A recent report by the New York Times on Bangladesh’s current political landscape has framed the country as one teetering on the brink of religious extremism in the wake of recent political transitions.  What the authors say contain fragments of factual events, the overall portrayal biased, selective, and seemingly crafted to fit a preconceived narrative of instability and impending chaos.

It focuses on sensationalism over a balanced representation of facts—alters the truth about a nation that is actively working towards stability, inclusivity, and progress. 

The article disproportionately highlights isolated incidents to frame a broader pattern of religious extremism. Such as, it overwhelmingly focused on the cancellation of a women’s soccer game in rural area and the alleged release of a man accused of harassing a woman for not covering her hair. Additionally, there were demands for introducing blasphemy laws—this is not a new phenomenon, as similar calls emerged previously in different periods, notably in 2007 and 2013. In some places, they’ve shared half-truths, in others fabricated stories, while deliberately overlooking the positive contributions of mainstream Islamist groups on these very issues. While worth discussing but these incidents do not reflect the reality of a nation of over 180 million people that have diverse practices and opinions.  

The bigger issue is that, just days ago, a genocide occurred, and for the past 15 years, the country has not experienced genuine elections. Yet, all of this has been overshadowed by efforts to highlight Hasina’s so-called commitment to “women’s rights” and “secularism.” They even quoted a student’s interview to force-fit the narrative that “women were always better off before,” conveniently ignoring the broader socio-political crisis. The report also claims that 37% of........

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