A different kind of Halloween In Bangladesh - Brutal killings of free-thinkers
Halloween or Hallowe'en, a contraction of all Hallows' Evening, is a celebration brought to the USA by the Irish and Scottish immigrants in 19th century. In the late 20th century this celebration of Halloween was also observed in other western countries. Now, in the present time Halloween is celebrated in almost all the western countries namely, USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, and many other countries. Other than the countries mentioned earlier it is observed being celebrated in countries like Japan in Asia, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. According to the popular belief among the people of Irish, British Welsh community, the pagan god of death Samhain (SAH-win) calls upon all the souls/ spirits of the dead people. According to the belief, in that night all the man made laws are no longer active and the dead spirits are allowed to join the world of alive world. They also believed that, all the dead spirits lived in a land in the form of immortal youngs, and were called "Tir nan Oge". Some believed that the dead ones lived with angels.
Editorial - Human Rights Watch's statement is unhelpful towards establishing justice
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has issued a statement asking for an immediate halt to the execution of the war criminals Salahuddin Quader (SQ) Chowdhury and Ali Hasan Mujahid in Bangladesh. HRW wants to portray this as a political vendetta of the ruling Awami League (AL) against the political parties of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). HRW laments the lack of fair trial and accuses the court of not allowing witnesses who could testify to the innocence of these two men.
Joint Statement - Calling on the Canadian government to help secularists in Bangladesh
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
American militarism and battered diplomacy
America may be the only superpower standing, but its diplomacy is getting a real battering now. It is none more so than in the Middle East, where hundreds of billions of tax-payers' dollars and over 4,500 service personnel fatality over a decade or so could not save America from being relegated to playing a second fiddle to Russia. What has caused America to fall from grace precipitously in the Middle East?
Rafida Ahmed Bonya on the UN panel "Ending Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
The panel was organized on the 2nd International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, and just 2 days after the attacks on Avijit's publishers Faisal Arefin Dipon and Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, the attack that killed Dipon. https://www.unesco.org/new/en/EndImpunity
The Shame of Ban on Beef in Secular India
India's beef ban came into spotlight recently in horrible ways. On September 30, 2015, a mob of more than 100 people lynched a 50 years old Muslim man, named Mohammad Akhlaq, in Uttar Pradesh. They also roughed up his family, including seriously injuring his 22 years old son. What was the reason? There was a rumor that the family had beef in their fridge. On October 8, 2015, an MLA of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, named Engineer Rashid, was beaten up by some of his colleagues for hosting a party where beef was served. On October 9, 2015, a mob beat up two youths and clashed with the police in Uttar Pradesh. What was the problem there? There was a rumor that a cow was slaughtered and skinned.
Saudi duplicity and inhumanity
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the protector of two holiest mosques in Islam, is in abject decadent state. It claims to be the holiest place in Islam, but at the same time it ferments internecine conflicts within Islam. It spent more than 50 billion dollars over the past 45 years or so promoting a fundamentalist religious ideology called Wahhabism throughout the whole world. At the same time, it spent untold hundreds of billions of dollars in aiding and abetting Jihadism and supporting terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, ISIS/ISIL, Taliban, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and so forth against the 'infidels'. The duplicity of Saudi Arabia is just unimaginable.
An Appeal from Muktomona to Keep Secular Bangladesh Safe from Religious Fundamentalism
Four Writers Killed in Six Months
Al Jazeera The stream - The dangers of blogging in Bangladesh
From "The Stream" website.