State Of Disgrace

The shopkeepers around him won't talk about the extortionists, pleading that they will be murdered if their own identities are revealed, but Siraj ul-Islam, a seller of saris in Dhaka's Kawran Bazaar, says he has nothing to lose by speaking to TIME. "Whether you publish our names or not, we are all dead men in this market," says the 54-year-old as he squats on a white platform in his little store. Kawran Bazaar, a sprawling complex of wholesale markets and retail shops near the heart of the capital, is a hunting ground for gun-wielding extortionists who don't hesitate to kill if...