CM23: Bangladesh

Shanon Shah tries to unravel the paradox of Bangladesh; Hassan Mahamdallie has strange encounters in Dhaka; Zeeshan Khan asks real Bangali Muslims to raise their hands; A Qayyum Khan thinks Bangladeshi politics is trapped in a fraudulent circle; Dina M Siddiqi visits garment factory workers; Irum Shehreen Ali refuses to take sides in the battle of the Begums; Anato Chowdhury laments the murder of gay activists; Onjali Q Rauf is angry at the plight of the female victims of the Independence war; Sharbari Z Ahmed juggles her identity as an American Bangladeshi writer; Sadaf Saaz comes to terms with home; Maria Chaudhuri longs for home in other places; and Samia Rahman is besotted with Nadiya Hussain.

Also in this issue: Giles Goddard thinks there is nothing unique about challenges facing Islam; Tamim Sadikali reads a brilliant anthology of British Muslim writers; Laych Koh meets Yuna, the enigmatic Malay pop singer; poems by Lalon Shah, the great Baul saint and mystic of Bengal the late Shaheed Quaderi and award winning Kaiser Haq; short stories by Rajib Rahman and Ahsan Akbar; and our list of top ten Bangladeshi cultural delights.