মুনীবা 🇧🇩

One of my least favourite things about growing older is all the experiences that harden your heart. I miss some of the naivety of youth.

Also, an entity can be corrupt and still be socially accepted—and that’s what gives it power. Optics matter. It doesn’t matter how honest you are if you’re stigmatized or outside the accepted narrative.

Real life may not follow this curve exactly but the pattern holds more often than people admit.

On repealed ordinances: Government claims they will be “strengthened”, but its own documents suggest otherwise (5 documents attached in the link below). In today’s official report, the government stated that these ordinances are not being allowed to lapse with the intention of repeal; rather, they will be “strengthened” later. These include the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Remedy Ordinance, the Police Commission Ordinance, the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance, the Supreme Court Judges Appointment Ordinance, the Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, among others. However, internal review documents distributed among committee members directly contradict this claim (particularly the attached document titled “Review and Recommendations on the 133 Issued Ordinances”). The objections raised in that document regarding specific provisions do not indicate an intent to strengthen these laws; rather, they clearly reflect efforts to weaken them. This can be demonstrated, provision by provision, using the government’s own documents. (a) These issues are detailed in the opposition’s note of dissent (see attached official report of the special committee, from page 37 in link below). (b) Additionally, immediately after the committee meeting on March 29, the Home Minister told journalists that not only the opposition but also ruling party MPs had expressed dissent (link provided). Surprisingly, the dissent from ruling party MPs has not been included in the official committee report. However, it is attached here (see in link below: Scan_NHRC_BNP note of dissent & Scan_ED_BNP note of dissent). ⸻ Taken together, the opposition’s dissent, the ruling party’s dissent, and the government’s internal review documents establish three distinct lines of institutional decline: 1. The government seeks to effectively reduce the independence and authority of oversight bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the proposed Police Commission. 2. The legal framework that could have prevented the recurrence of enforced disappearances is being dismantled before it can take effect; notably, according to BNP MPs’ dissent, this will also weaken internal accountability structures within the security forces. 3. Institutional checks on executive power in the judiciary and financial governance are being obstructed. ⸻ These are warning signs of serious concern for the country. - Taib Ahmed taibahmed.com/2026/04/03/%e0…

@JonFDanilowicz taibahmed.com/2026/04/03/%e0…

My social media feeds today are full of criticisms and concerns about Bangladesh’s government’s decision to allow critical human rights ordinances to lapse. These critiques come from many who strongly supported the BNP. What I have not seen are any effective arguments in favor of the government’s actions. This either means that there is no defense or that the government is unable to effectively communicate its position. Neither is a good look.

@BanglaBrit1972 taibahmed.com/2026/04/03/%e0…

If the BNP wants to take institutions like the Human Rights Commission, Police Commission, and the commission to prevent enforced disappearances and killings back under political control, like before, then that would be a grave betrayal to Bangladesh 2.0.

@AhmedShahAzfar Thank you! He will never truly retire, a serious workaholic by heart so he will continue his work elsewhere

@perpetuallymun Hope he enjoys his retirement!

The BUET VC who had his minions repeatedly ask my sister when Abbu would retire must be celebrating today. Abbu officially retired from BUET yesterday. Happy retirement to him, and here’s to more hapless haters as the journey continues.

Daily Star lied and misquoted him. He basically said that male politicians are so used to taking bribes or enjoying perks that they’re getting bigger bellies, so big that female colleagues (including Farhana) would wonder how the men have larger bellies than they did even during pregnancy: facebook.com/share/v/1DJEQx…

@dailystarnews what did he say?

A recent video clip that went viral on social media showed first-time MP Amir Hamza commenting on the women lawmakers he sat with in the parliament. thedailystar.net/news/politics/…

@WilhelmBauer77 That’s Abu Sayed’s dead body killed by Hasina during the July revolution and your dearest Modi is shielding her, loser.

The government has proposed to repeal the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance, the Prevention and Remedy of Enforced Disappearance Ordinance, the Police Commission Ordinance, the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance, the Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, the Supreme Court Judges Appointment Ordinance, the Right to Information (Amendment) Ordinance, the Microfinance Bank Ordinance, the Bank Resolution Ordinance, and the Referendum Ordinance. “The path and promise we break to go ahead is the same path and promise we’ll need to return. Chasing power, we ruin the road home.” - @HasnatAb_dullah

It is fascinating how Islam is so frequently conflated with Arabness. Sometimes there is even an implied moral failure for those who are Muslim but not Arab, which leads to forced Arabization in many non Arab communities. Despite the historical reality that the vast majority of Muslims globally are not Arab and haven’t been for 80% of Islam’s history.

I just don’t think you need to love war crimes to be a real man.

@JackofBlades22 Also, I’ve heard you praise how tough Shahjahan Chowdhury is and the kind of rhetoric he uses to project that image. That’s generally fine. It’s when it crosses into calling others atheists or resorting to body-shaming that it becomes offensive and counterproductive.

@perpetuallymun To me, the whole foreign advisor mess & JI taking credit of China's aid was more damaging to jamat than all these noise. JI is lucky most people's attention is towards iran war & fuel crisis. That stunt they pulled with china was unacceptable.

@JackofBlades22 That was problematic too. From what I understand, the Ameer did not take credit for it and thanked them properly in person. It’s the social media account manager that really needs to be looked at and held accountable.

@JackofBlades22 Maybe I am a millennial but this isn’t about caving, it’s called discipline. There’s a difference between having backbone and being careless with language. If the goal is to win people over, rhetoric that alienates and hands critics ammunition is counterproductive.

@perpetuallymun Caving like that is very 90s and millenial behaviour. People respect parties, factions, ideologies that stick to their guns and show some backbone.

@JackofBlades22 That is true. You won’t hear the media talk about it, of course. When everyone is against you, the best way to defeat the apparatus is by being on your best behavior and not giving them anything to use against you.

@perpetuallymun 'Recklessness' can be normalized by repetition. BNP normalized making mass takfir of jamat by repeatedly calling them munafiqs and munafiqs are considered worse than kafirs. Didnt hear all this talk when BNP does it.

Listen, Amir Hamza can call someone Islamophobic all he wants, of course. But the moment he labels them an atheist, he drags the entire party down with him. The media and society are quick to generalize and assign collective blame. The same happens when misogynistic remarks are made against Rumeen Farhana, the whole party gets villainized for it. You can call out Islamophobia without crossing into language that is reckless or disrespectful. The media and civil society are already biased against this party, so why give them more ammunition?

@perpetuallymun It's not casual. Tuku recently condemned concept of Bangladesh having any state religion and said "we didnt do muktijuddho just to have religion in our state". You guys in UK & US call out your politicians for islamophobia for less, BNP has clear de-islamization agenda.

@JackofBlades22 Even if he is a scholar, that doesn’t make casual takfir acceptable. In Islamic tradition, declaring someone a disbeliever has strict conditions and is approached with extreme caution, and is not to be used as casual political rhetoric.

@perpetuallymun @dailystarnews Islamic scholars can takfir, he has the qualification to do so and the takfir is valid.