Mushfique Wadud investigates the condition of Dhaka’s over-bridges and finds out why pedestrians refuse to use them
‘Mom, what is that?’ 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
‘It is an over-bridge, my child.’
‘What is it for, Mom?’
‘It is a safe way to cross the road.’
‘Then why aren’t we using it?’
‘You’re talking too much today. We are in hurry, let’s go.’
Read more at the link
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/sep/19/sep19/xtra_inner3.html
Mushfique Wadud and Ariful Islam Mithu reveal the need for reforms in the qoumi madrassah education system, which still follows a curriculum from the Mughal period
Yusuf was not born in a well to do family. His father always struggled to provide for and manage their big family, and so when it was time to send Yusuf to school; he was sent to a qoumi madrassah, where his father hardly had to pay anything. 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
Read more at http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/08/may08/xtra_inner3.html
Mushfique Wadud, Khamin and Mohiuddin Alamgir list the various illegal businesses that make student politics so dear to the average student
Riaz Uddin always dreamt of making his son a doctor. So when his son, Abul Kalam Asad Rajib came tenth on the SSC examinations merit list, he considered it the first step in the fulfilment of his dream. Rajib, second of Riaz’s three sons, soon got admitted to Dhaka Medical College. Everything was going according to plan and Riaz only had to wait a few years to become ‘a doctor’s father’. 
photos by Al-Emrun Garjon
But soon Rajib became involved in student politics during the early years of his medical college life. He was made general secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra League in the DMC unit. This year, Rajib was killed in a factional clash of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League’s student front on March 31, 2009, ending the life of a brilliant student and shattering Riaz’s dreams.
Read more at
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/15/may15/xtra_cover.html
Mushfique Wadud and Khamin reveal the gross irregularities and nepotism that revolve around the second-largest NGO in the country, Proshika and Qazi Faruque, its controversial chairman
Abul Kashem Palash, the acting director of Proshika Manobik Unnayan Kendra, was arrested by the law enforcement authorities just after the declaration of the state of emergency in the country on January 11, 2007 for being involved in anti-social activities during the pre-election violence from October to December 2006 as well as in the Awami League leader Abdul Jalil’s infamous ‘trump card’ deadline. 
photo by Prito Reza
Read more at
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/22/may22/xtra_cover.html
The prices have soared for almost all food items persistently, sometimes artificially increased through syndicates and sometimes putting up with the international market. An effective strategy is what people look forward from the newly elected government – a strategy that would discuss solutions more than meetings, roundtables and bluffs. Mushfique Wadud asks policymakers and eminent economists for their prescriptions to control the price hike
Abul Maal Abdul Muhith 
Former finance minister
At present prices of food items in the international market are stable. I am confident I can control the food prices if I take the helm of finance ministry. How?
We have a six-point programme in our manifesto that will control the prices of food items. Many importers continue to sell goods at a higher price reasoning their sale from earlier stocks. This has to be checked thoroughly.
Read more at
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jan/02/jan02/xtra_inner3.html
Prior to the implementation of the seventh pay commission, Musfequr Rahman and Mushfique Wadud talk to government officials, from five different professions, and find out about their individual battle for survival against rocketing prices of essentials, house rent, educational expenses, with their given salary scales
The growing financial crisis of the last two years has hit the poorer sections in the country hard, but it has also done damage to those with fixed income salaries who are growing poorer at a higher rate, as the currency devalues and prices shoot upwards. Even in mid-2008, inflation fluctuated to two-digit numbers; accounting for the prices spiral of essentials, house-rent, transportation, education and other necessary items. 
photo by Prito Reza
Read more at
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jan/23/jan23/xtra_cover.html
Mushfique Wadud reveals the gross irregularities undermining the Mother and Neonatal Health (MNH) project proposal prepared by UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO, challenging the philanthropic appearance of such ventures
The United Nations agencies in Bangladesh have time and again accused the public departments and other authorities in Bangladesh of irregularities and corruption. 
photos by Prito Reza
But this time, the project ‘Accelerating Progress towards Maternal and Neonatal Mortality and Morbidity Reduction’ has provided the Bangladeshi counterparts ample reasons to point fingers at these agencies now. Sources from the Health and Family Welfare Ministry inform New Age how the project proposal lacks accountability and transparency.
Read more at
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jan/16/jan16/xtra_inner2.html
Sharmin Chowdhury and Mushfique Wadud investigate the allegations against education institutions charging over-the-top admission fees in the name of development despite a government declaration regulating such, their defiance of the country’s education laws, and reveal where the excess amount is actually spent
‘I have to spend Tk 9800 for my daughter’s admission. She began school for the first time this year. 
photo by Prito Reza
Read more at http://www.newagebd.com/2009/mar/13/mar13/xtra_inner2.html
President of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Ghulam Mustafa tells Mushfique Wadud how the labour market is prone to be adversely hit this year because of global recession and that it is high time to reform the Bangladesh missions and embassies
On February 23, BAIRA expressed the view that the current global recession might cut the outflow of Bangladeshi workers almost by half by the end of 2009. But earlier media reports suggested that global recession won’t have an impact on Middle-Eastern countries and therefore it would not affect our manpower export market. What is your take on this? 
photo by Prito Reza
From BAIRA, we apprehended such after considering the present situation. In fact Malaysia and Singapore have stopped giving visa to migrant workers.
Read more at http://www.newagebd.com/2009/mar/13/mar13/xtra_inner5.html
Chashi Nazrul Islam tells Mushfique Wadud that his films on the war of independence are his greatest achievement and reveals where he got his very original name
Little Tinu goes to Mumbai to become a hero like Dilip Kumar, though he has no idea about the place and does not know anyone there. 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
He leaves his home without letting anyone know of his journey to Mumbai. In Mumbai he meets a well-wisher who tells him to return after completing his Masters degree, after which she would help him become a hero. Tinu returns to his home in Jamshedpur, India.
Read more at
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/apr/10/apr10/xtra_inner6.html
Mushfique Wadud and Ahmed Sadek Yousuf Siad reveal that the simulated textbook crisis that has plagued the country’s students for the last two months and regularly recurs each year is a cumulative problem that all parties concerned create
The boy is going from one shop to the other. He asks the salesperson for something and then leaves the shop frustrated. 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
It can be understood that he did not get the answer he was looking for. Sweating and tired, the boy moves to another shop. A sign of relief comes over his face as he has found what he was looking for.
Read more at
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/mar/06/mar06/xtra_inner4.html
Surrounded by rivers, liberally scattered with tube wells and equipped with water treatment plants and a sewage and supply system, Mushfique Wadud unveils the dirty and diseased state of Dhaka’s water system, where gross neglect, lack of repair, shirking of responsibility and hardly any resources allows water contamination at multiple points, leaving the city’s residents with water everywhere but not a drop to drink
‘During the liberation war my mother was going to one of her aunts’ house. She felt thirsty. At that time it was really difficult for her to drink water as she was on her brother’s shoulder. 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
Suddenly they found a pond, water of which, was simply undrinkable but she had to drink water from that pond and they considered it a safe place. Now when she wants to make ablutions with the water from the WASA supply line, she finds no difference between the bad odours of the two.’ Mita says. She and her family live in Mirpur-6.
Read more at http://www.newagebd.com/2008/oct/31/oct31/xtra_cover.html
Mushfique Wadud searches out the stories behind the most significant sculptures of Bangladesh, the majority of which are monuments to the struggle and spirit of independence, and learns why each and every one is indispensable to our heritage and identity
On October 18, the chairman of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), Fazlul Haq Amini, on behalf of the Islami Ain Bastobayon Committee threatened to pull down every single statue around the country declaring that the establishment of statues were against the principles of Islam. 
photo by Prito Reza
You can read it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/nov/28/nov28/xtra_cover.html
Mushfique Wadud visits the Dhaka Central Jail to investigate what is being done in the prison system to prepare inmates for life after incarceration
Rafiqul Islam was once a popular young man and a good student. In class nine, he came to be associated with local crime leaders in the Rajarbagh area of Dhaka, where he lived with his family. He was caught hiding a firearm for one of these criminals by the authorities and was soon incarcerated. After his release, ten years later, he wanted to lead a normal life, but he could not find any job. Everyone considered him to be a threat to their establishment. After trying hard for three months, he returned to a life of crime. His time in prison gave him an in-depth education on criminal activities and he is now a prominent criminal in his area. 
photo by Prito Reza
You can read it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/nov/28/nov28/xtra_inner3.html
Mushfique Wadud visits the Freedom Fighter’s Rest and Medical Centre and Freedom Fighter’s Complex and returns with harrowing tales of hand-to-mouth survival, blatant neglect of freedom fighters, corruption, nepotism, insecurity and criminal activities
‘Real wounded freedom fighters are leading a very miserable life in their villages. Real freedom fighters cannot stay in this Rest and Medical Centre when they need. 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
You can read it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/dec/19/dec19/xtra_inner2.html
Old age home
No families come visiting
by Mushfique Wadud
‘Once on Eid day I woke my children up very early in the morning. They did not wake up from the first call. I had to struggle to wake them. Then I bathed them with my own hands. 
photo by Sheikh Rajibul Islam
And they could not wear their new dresses that I bought them with my hard-earned money so I and their mother helped them wear the new dresses. Afterwards I took my sons to the Eidgah (where Eid prayers are said) in their new clothes though I went to say my Eid prayer wearing very old clothes. After the prayer when we came to our house, their mother and I fed them shemai with our own hands. Our whole day was spent looking after them on Eid day. But now they have no time to meet me on Eid Day,’ says Shamsul Huq Khondoker. He is one of the many unlucky senior citizens in Boyoshko O Shishu Punorbashon Kendro (BOSHIPUK).
You can read it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/dec/19/dec19/xtra_inner3.html
Mushfique Wadud browses the internet and comes across sites that have made job-search easier for thousands of Bangladeshis over the past few years
Nahid seemed to have reached the moon as soon as the advertisement on the newspaper caught his eyes. It was probably the answer to his prayers and of three months of job-searching. 
You can read it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/feb/13/feb13/xtra_inner4.html
With 6000 book cover designs under his belt, enigmatic illustrator Dhrubo Esh belittles the importance of a book’s cover
to Mushfique Wadud
At 2am, a middle-aged man sits on a bench of a tea-stall. He lights his fifth cigarette and requests the tea-stall owner to give him another cup of tea. There is no one there except the tea-stall owner. 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
The man is clad in a yellow punjabi with a shawl wrapped around his body. He is not wearing any shoes. After a while he leaves for an unknown destination. He is the typical bohemian of Humayan Ahmed’s invention, Him
You can read it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/feb/13/feb13/xtra_inner6.html
Mushfique Wadud exposes the plethora of extrajudicial killings by RAB and other law-enforcement officials during the tenure of the military-backed interim government
On July 15 last year, Mosiul Alam Sentu was returning home from a hunger strike on the Dhaka University campus. 
You can read this in the following link-
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/feb/13/feb13/xtra_cover.html
Mushfique Wadud searches out Kakon Bibi, a Khasia woman and wife of a Pakistani soldier who helped the Mukti Bahini win over 20 battles until her eventual capture, torture, abandonment and poverty...
It is 1971. A secret midnight meeting is going on at Dowarapara Thana, Chhatak Upazilla of Sunamganj district. Silence and darkness permeate. The plan is to capture the enemy camp at Tengratilla. The Pakistani soldiers from this camp have been carrying out attacks on the Mukti Bahini for too long. But the Mukti Bahini commander has no information about the capacity or numbers of the enemy. Everyone at the meeting is tense. No one speaks. The long silence is broken by a woman. 
photo by Al-Emrun Garjon
You can read this in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/mar/26/mar26/xtra_cover.html
Mushfique Wadud finds out the viability of the jute sector and the mismanagement, the government policies and the World Bank connection in the whole fiasco, which has nearly crippled the sector
Raju, a grocery shop-owner at the Mirpur 6 kitchen market, is still looking forward to the arrival of jute bag suppliers to his shop at the market. 
photo by Shafiq Islam, Bogra/DrikNEWS
See it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/apr/03/apr03/xtra_cover.html
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