An immediate showdown between East and West Pakistan has been averted for the time being. The prospects for a reconciliation and settlement remain poor, however, and the basic elements of the situation remain essentially unchanged.

Between the 1st March when there was a sudden announcement of the postponement sine die of the sitting of the National Assembly and the 6th March,

Bangladesh is a country built on a foundation of struggle. The struggle for language, as our people sacrificed their lives to have our mother tongue be our state language in 1952.

Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium at the capital’s Mirpur is filled to the brim with ecstatic students, their proud parents and teachers as The Daily Star for the 21st time awarded students of O and A levels for their excellence in the 2018-19 academic session.

“Killing a river is virtually a collective suicide of all” - High Court observation (July 1, 2019)

The rotten stench emanating from the polluted Buriganga water hits the nostrils even before reaching the river’s bank.

The effluent from several industries in Madhabpur upazila of Habiganj is polluting local canals and rivers, threatening fish population and adversely affecting people’s lives in the area.

The Bangshi River was once an indispensable part of everyday life for the people of Nolam village in Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Politicians made promises, the courts gave directives, National River Conservation Commission urged actions and finally, last year a master plan was formulated to save the Karnaphuli river from pollution and encroachment.

The once mighty Korotoa now barely flows through Bogura district. Issues like unbridled pollution, a regulator that obstructs natural flow, and gradual decrease in water from upstream have almost chocked the river down, said experts and locals.

Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla, people’s Sonar Bangla, history’s Sonar Bangla will be a barren Sonar Bangla with its rivers polluted, grabbed and encroached upon and rendered lifeless. SAVE THEM TO SAVE US.

In November 2016, nine-year-old Asif was admitted to the only hospital which treats child cancer patients in the country. He was prematurely released from the hospital, with a few months of treatment still left to receive.

Anu Saha, 32, has been travelling to the capital’s Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) from Sirajganj twice a month during the last two years to collect oral morphine for pain management for his dying mother Sebi Saha, 50, a patient of terminal cancer.

Cancer control in the country requires an integrated approach with emphasis on prevention that can help improve quality of life, reduce the possibility of cancer and thus cut health expenditures, experts have said.

On 28 December he [jail superintendent] came to me and said that I should pack up as he had received an order that I was to ‘shift to new location’. My immediate reaction was one of joy, at the prospect of leaving the jail after nearly nine months of solitary confinement.

At first, I remember the students, the labourers, the peasants, the intellectuals, the soldiers, the police, the people, the Hindus and the Muslims of my Bangladesh who were killed. I, wishing for their souls and paying tribute to them, would like to say a few words to you.

The main worry and concern now was the fate of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. There was anxiety about him despite the surrender in Dacca and the unilateral ceasefire coming into force in the western theatre of war.

One of the most memorable events that took place in the history of Bangladesh was on the day when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman landed as a free man in the free land of the United Kingdom after having spent nine agonising months in Pakistani gaol. The date was January 8, 1972.

On January 10, 1972, the man whom his people lovingly called Bangabandhu, friend of Bengal, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, returned to Dhaka on a chilly and windy late afternoon from London, via New Delhi, to be welcomed by hundreds and thousands of people.

Bangabandhu’s speech at Delhi Airport