The Closure
At precisely 7pm on the evening of 6 April 2026, the lights dimmed in shopping malls across Bangladesh . Not because of power cuts — though those would come — but because the government had issued an edict that would have seemed unthinkable six weeks earlier: all shops, all cultural events, all public gatherings must end by nightfall. The measure was designed to conserve energy, to make the dwindling reserves of diesel last just a little longer. In Dhaka, traders pulled down shutters early, their frustration palpable. In the provinces, fairs that had run for generations under starlight were dismantled before dusk.