Sculpting Bangladesh

Sculpting Bangladesh

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

photo by Prito Reza

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.
You can read it in the following link

http://www.newagebd.com/2008/nov/28/nov28/xtra_cover.html

A fresh start

A fresh start

Mushfique Wadud visits the Dhaka Central Jail to investigate what is being done in the prison system to prepare inmates for life after incarceration

photo by Prito Reza

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.
You can read it in the following link
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/nov/28/nov28/xtra_inner3.html

No freedom for them

No freedom for them

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

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

‘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.
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

Old age home
No families come visiting

by Mushfique Wadud

photo by Sheikh Rajibul Islam

‘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.

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

Jobs at your finger-tips

Jobs at your finger-tips

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

Judging a book’s cover

Judging a book’s cover

With 6000 book cover designs under his belt, enigmatic illustrator Dhrubo Esh belittles the importance of a book’s cover
to Mushfique Wadud

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

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.

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

Licensed to kill

Licensed to kill

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

‘I won against Pakistan but lost to poverty’

‘I won against Pakistan
but lost to poverty’

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...

photo by Al-Emrun Garjon

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.

You can read this in the following link

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/mar/26/mar26/xtra_cover.html

Remnants of the golden fibre

Remnants of the golden fibre

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

photo by Shafiq Islam, Bogra/DrikNEWS

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.
See it in the following link

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/apr/03/apr03/xtra_cover.html