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Bangladesh is a nation that is being carried almost entirely by the labour of its underprivileged and uneducated people, who slave away at garment factories and toil abroad to send back remittances. However, due to fundamental flaws in democracy and the rule of law, and corruption, all the power in Bangladesh rests in the hands of the top one percent. Furthermore, the government has failed to protect the average citizen's rights as enshrined in the constitution. In fact, it seems to have set out to actively undermine the freedoms of expression and the press. As the next general election draws closer, we are seeing the authorities step up their attempts to ascertain dominance over public discourse. Read more..

Zillur Rahman, Executive Director, Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) and a television talk show host.

This article was originally published on The Daily Star.
Views in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect CGS policy