Begum Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and second female prime minister in the Muslim world, after Benazir Bhutto. She is the widow of one of the former presidents of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1984, which was founded by her husband in 1978.
Dhaka Central Jail was the largest jail in Bangladesh, located in the old section of Dhaka, the country's capital. The jail has been used to house criminals as well as political prisoners, especially during the Language Movement of 1952, the 6 Point Movement, and the Bangladesh Liberation War.
The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) is a paramilitary force responsible for the border security of Bangladesh. The BGB is entrusted with the responsibility to defend the 4,427 kilometres (2,751 mi) border of Bangladesh with India and Myanmar. It was formerly known as the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).
Rapid Action Battalion is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police. This elite force consists of members of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force, Bangladesh Police, Border Guard Bangladesh, and Bangladesh Ansar. It was formed on 26 March 2004 as RAT, and commenced operations on 14 April 2004.
The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, commonly known by its acronym DGFI, is the defense intelligence agency of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, tasked with collection, collation and evaluation of strategic and topographic information, primarily through human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the Bangladesh intelligence community, the DGFI reports to the Director-General under the executive authority of the head of government, the Prime Minister, and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the Prime Minister, the Cabinet of Bangladesh, and the Armed Forces of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Television, commonly known by its acronym BTV, is the state-owned television network of Bangladesh. The network was originally established as the East Pakistan branch of PTV in 1964. It is the oldest Bengali-language television network in the world, and is the sister to the radio broadcaster Bangladesh Betar, which, along with BTV, are both owned and operated by the government.
Tarique Rahman, also known as Tarique Zia, is a Bangladeshi politician and businessman who is the acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since February 2018. He is the eldest son of former president Ziaur Rahman and former two-time prime minister Khaleda Zia. He is widely seen as a powerful figure in BNP and held several high-profile positions within the party, including the post of senior joint secretary general.
The Bangladesh Chhatra League, formerly known as the East Pakistan Student League, often simply called the Chhatra League, is a students' political organisation in Bangladesh, founded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 4 January 1948. BSL is the student wing of the Bangladesh Awami League.
Abul Maal Abdul Muhith was a Bangladeshi economist, writer, civil servant, secretary, diplomat and politician. He served as the finance minister of the government of Bangladesh from January 2009 until January 2019.
The Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Force is a paramilitary auxiliary force responsible for the preservation of internal security and law enforcement in Bangladesh. It is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh. It has 6 million active and reserved members. It is the largest paramilitary force in the world.
Monowar Hossain Dipjol known by his stage name as Dipjol, is a Bangladeshi actor, businessman, and politician. He is the current general secretary of the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association.
Mohammad Mosaddak Ali, also known as Phalu, is a Bangladeshi entrepreneur and a politician who was a former parliamentarian from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He served as the political secretary to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia between 2001 and 2004. He was responsible for building special relations and partnership for development between the government and the private sector that is interested in investing in new and highly potential industrial sectors, and introducing new products and services to local industries, at a time when Bangladesh's economic growth accelerated. In 2003, Ali launched Bangladesh's first automation-based private satellite television station NTV. He also founded another satellite channel RTV and Bengali daily newspaper Amar Desh. He is the founding President of Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO).
Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh are cases in which the Government of Bangladesh directly or indirectly kidnaps people and holds them incommunicado. According to a Dhaka-based human rights group Odhikar, at least 402 people have become victim of enforced disappearance from 2009 to 2017 under the former Awami League administration. These incidents along with extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh has been criticized by The United Nations and human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a special paramilitary unit in Bangladesh, is alleged to be behind most of these disappearances even though RAB claimed these allegations to be false. The current Awami League government denies involvement in these forced disappearances even when victims later surface in custody.
46th Independent Infantry Brigade is an independent brigade formation of Bangladesh Army. It is located in Dhaka Cantonment directly under the command of the Army Headquarters (AHQ). The Brigade is also known as the Dhaka Brigade.
Bangladesh Jail is a law enforcement agency responsible for the management and security of jails in Bangladesh and is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Inspector General of Prison Brigadier General Syed Muhammad Motahar Hussain is head of the force.
The Digital Security Act, 2018, amended as Cyber Security Act in 2023, is a digital security law in Bangladesh. This act was passed with the aim of preventing the spread of racism; sectarianism; extremism; terrorist propaganda; and hatred against religious or ethnic minorities through social media, print media or any other electronic media. Any content over the internet or any other media that was deemed pornographic or otherwise inappropriate by the government could be punished by fines or prison terms of various lengths. It is a controversial law and it was feared that the law could be used to suppress dissenters against the government due to some of its provisions that are vague and ambiguous, open to interpretation or prone to abuse. This law has been used to sue and arrest journalists, activists and also cyber criminals. It has been described as a "Draconian" law.
Mamunul Haque is a Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic scholar, politician, academic, writer, editor, and social reformer. He is the former joint secretary general of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, secretary general of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Shaykh al-Hadith of Jamia Rahmania Arabia Dhaka, founder of Babri Mosque Bangladesh, editor-in-chief of Monthly Rahmani Paigam, president of Bangladesh Khelafat Youth Majlish and Khatib at Baitul Mamur Jame Mosque. He is also a leading figure in several organizations, including Rabetatul Waizin Bangladesh, an organization of Islamic speakers in Bangladesh. He is particularly popular with the hard-line speaks against atheists, secularists, anti-Islamist and was arrested for leading the movement in this regard. 65 organizations including Bangladesh Awami League, Chhatra League, Jubo League have started a massive movement across the country demanding banning, arrest and exemplary punishment of him for promoting Islamic fundamentalism.
Mushtaq Ahmed, popularly known as Kumir Bhai, was a Bangladeshi dissident, writer, and entrepreneur. His pen name was Michael Kumir Thakur. He founded the first ever commercial Crocodile breeding farm in Bangladesh. His book Kumir Chashir Diary was published in 2018. He was working on another book. He was accused with 10 others of sharing cartoons in social media posts criticizing the Bangladeshi government's corrupt and mismanaged response to covid-19 pandemic and was detained in pre-trial for almost a year. On 25 February 2021 he died in jail, after being denied bail 6 times.
Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan is a retired Bangladesh Army Colonel and former Sector Commander of Border Guards Bangladesh in Rajshahi. He is the former Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) an elite multi-service unit of the Bangladesh Police and oversaw crackdowns on Islamist militants. He has been sanctioned by the United States for his activities in RAB. He had previously commanded RAB-5, RAB-7, and RAB-11.
Kashimpur Central Jail, also known as Kashimpur Prison or Kashimpur Jail, is a major high-security correctional facility located at Kashimpur union in the Gazipur district of Bangladesh. It is one of the largest and most well-known prisons in the country, as well as one of the biggest prisons in Asia.
