Amidst widespread international outcry and faced with the strong diplomatic stance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Myanmar government has been persuaded to repatriate the Rohingya refugees, according to an agreement reached between the two countries late last week.

The Election Commission (EC) held a post-dialogue press briefing on October 26. At the briefing, the Chief Election Commissioner said that the commission must conduct elections in accordance with the laws made by the government. His statement, although significant, raises serious concerns.

The US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, sent mixed messages at the news conference in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, at the conclusion of his brief visit to Myanmar on November 15.

The UN calls the Myanmar army's aggression against the Rohingya “ethnic cleansing”. “Ethnic cleansing” is a term invented by Slobodan Milosevic. It's a euphemism for forced displacement and genocide. It's an insidious term because there is no international treaty law against it, whereas there are international laws against forced displacement and genocide.

As Bangladesh gears up for what may very well turn out to be the most crucial political exercise in its history, questions have arisen about the level of youth participation in electoral politics.

BNP standing committee member Tariqul Islam, who has been suffering from various health complications including kidney problems, is taken to Singapore on Tuesday morning for better treatment.

Though EVMs have been used in local government elections, we have to keep in mind that the national election is completely different because of its size and political importance. So, before introducing EVMs in the forthcoming national election, the Election Commission (EC) should make voters and other relevant stakeholders confident in using this technology.

China and India's steady economic growth after centuries of stagnation is changing the economic landscape of Asia—lifting millions out of poverty. As economic interdependence between the two nations increases, their geo-political rivalry is also on the rise. Beijing and New Delhi have competing visions to expand their geo-economic interests and, perhaps, supremacy in the region and beyond.

Finally, the barbaric regime of Myanmar has been put on the dock and found guilty of the crime of all crimes: genocide.

Arakan is burning. The Burmese rulers appear to be on the brink of achieving their much-longed-for a “final solution” of the Rohingya question.

During a visit to India in 2013 as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres observed, “India's refugee policy is an example for the rest of the world to follow.”

They also threaten to wage a movement with a one-point demand of the CJ's removal. Any reasonable citizen would be concerned about the way the judgment was unnecessarily politicised.

Unless the voters feel safe—and if the EC fails to deploy forces under its control within a security template that should have been prepared by now (and if the use of security forces is reactive rather than proactive)—it will be a total wastage of the 70 percent of the election budget apportioned to security.

Since the fall of the military dictator HM Ershad in the early nineties, Bangladesh has largely been a democracy. Two democratically elected political parties have mostly governed the country ever since.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's removal from office was the subject of much attention in Bangladesh and elsewhere. But buried within the story about political turmoil and the future of civilian rule in Pakistan was a story about leaked information and disclosure of assets.

The “verdict” was already known to all of us; the appellate division of the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the High Court (HC) that the 16th Amendment of the Constitution is “illegal and unconstitutional.”

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda seems to have misread significant jurisdictions of the Election Commission and rights of the political parties by expressing inability to intervene if any registered political party's activities are hampered before the announcement of the polls' schedule.

A CoC is important not only for ensuring justice but also to establish a lawmaker's accountability to the people and the parliament. There should also be a clear accountability system under the purview of the Ethics Committee led by the Speaker of the Parliament as its Chairman.

The content and tenor of deliberations at the House on July 9 raise the question whether the MPs acted within their mandate. The answer is an unequivocal no. Article 94(4) of Bangladesh Constitution stipulates that the Chief Justice and the other Judges of the SC shall be independent in exercise of their judicial functions.

Newspaper reports say that the Election Commission (EC) is going to start 'drawing' or 'redrawing' boundaries of parliamentary constituencies in the country.