https://www.scmp.com/rss/510453/feed Masum Billah is a journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He covers politics, diplomacy, trade, climate change, and social changes in Bangladesh and across the wider region. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com It took five years for Minhaz Mannan to see justice for his brother Xulhaz after Islamist extremists hacked him to death with a machete. Xulhaz was the co-founder and publisher of Bangladesh’s first LGBT magazine, Roopbaan. He and his associate Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy were killed in Xulhaz’s flat on April 25, 2016, by a group of men belonging to the al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Islam. “It was a premeditated killing, a murder that turned our family upside down,” said Minhaz. “Nothing can be scarier... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3149180/bangladesh-lgbt-people-fear-extremists-and-british-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3149180/bangladesh-lgbt-people-fear-extremists-and-british-era?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Sep 2021 08:00:19 +0000 The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has fuelled concerns of a revival of militancy in Bangladesh, amid a surge in social media posts by sympathisers and claims by a police official that some Bangladeshis have been seeking to travel to the Central Asian country. Dhaka’s police commissioner Shafiqul Islam this week said the Taliban had issued a call for people to join the war in Afghanistan a day before Kabul fell, and that some Bangladeshis had “left home” in response. “It is our [assessment]... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3146454/bangladesh-alert-militants-amid-talibans-takeover-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3146454/bangladesh-alert-militants-amid-talibans-takeover-afghanistan?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Aug 2021 06:56:19 +0000 Sharolika Parvin, a 16-year-old from Kurigram, a border district in Bangladesh, enjoyed playing football and took part in tournaments at a national level. Three years ago, she was even named the best player in the Bangamata Gold Cup primary school football tournament. But now, her dreams of graduating from the local college and playing national-level football have all but evaporated. Sharolika’s parents married her off to a 17-year-old motor mechanic earlier this year. Her new in-laws will not... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3143285/coronavirus-child-brides-bangladesh-teens-forced?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3143285/coronavirus-child-brides-bangladesh-teens-forced?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 31 Jul 2021 09:00:09 +0000