31/01/2026
The reasons were stark. Tarique Rahman, BNP's acting chairperson, had endured brutal torture and lived in exile. I knew torture too—the price I paid for speaking to Al Jazeera. Now I was in London for another interview with them. Two episodes with Andrew Feinstein for Unscripted, filmed in Studio B at the Shard. We met late that night, in a hotel far from the centre. Hours before my flight returned me to Dhaka. March 19, 2024.
My niece Mowli came with me. She and Zaima connected immediately, drawn into conversation. The political landscape was unforgiving. Sheikh Hasina had stolen her third election, her grip on Bangladesh absolute. In my interview, I had challenged the regime once more. I was flying back into the storm.
What followed reshaped everything. Hasina fled to India. An Interim Government formed under Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. Tarique and Zaima came home to Bangladesh. We mounted Chobi Mela again—the photography festival that matters. Zaima had come to see it.
Between then and now, Tarique and I met again in London. Just the two of us this time. Among many subjects, we spoke of the creative economy, of education—territories I hold close. In a moment when culture faces siege, when women's rights bear the heaviest blows, it lifted me to witness this sharp young woman engaging so deeply with the arts.
We'd planned for her to see all three galleries, to visit the student stall on the rooftop. But Zaima spent so long in dialogue with the students that time slipped away. The docents waiting in the basement were left disappointed. Perhaps she'll return. I hope she does.
The young drove this revolution. The artists. Above all, the women. They forced the autocrat out. We cannot let them be pushed aside now. If Bangladesh is to know genuine transformation, Zaima's generation—Gen Z—must lead it.
Photo © Rezuwan Vlog/Drik/Majority World
