Tarique Rahman Returning to Bangladesh on December 25: Mirza Fakhrul

BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman will return to the country on December 25, ending a 17-year exile, said the party’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

He gave this information after an emergency meeting of the party’s Standing Committee at the BNP chairperson’s office in Gulshan on Friday. Tarique Rahman presided over the meeting virtually.

At a briefing after the meeting at night, Mirza Fakhrul said, “Our struggling leader, the beloved figure of the masses of this country, Mr. Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of our party—he will arrive among us on the soil of Dhaka on the coming December 25. I repeat again, he will arrive on December 25.

“On behalf of the party and on behalf of everyone, we not only welcome his return, we want to share this joy with the entire nation.”

During the 2007–08 army-backed caretaker government, Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman was arrested just like she was. After being released, he left for London with his family and never returned to the country.

On February 8, 2018—the day Khaleda Zia was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust case and sent to prison—Tarique was made the acting chairman of BNP at a Standing Committee meeting.

Since then, for the past seven years, he has been running the party through video calls from London. Meanwhile in the country, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and a few senior leaders kept the BNP afloat amid storms and crises.

In 2020, the Awami League government granted Khaleda Zia temporary release by executive order. But due to two conditions, she was practically confined to a life split between home and hospital. She was not seen participating in any political activities.

After the shift of power on August 5, the president pardoned her sentence, granting her full release. Later, the High Court also acquitted her of corruption charges.

Tarique Rahman, too, had been convicted in various cases during the Awami League era. He was acquitted in those cases as well, clearing the way for his return to the country.

Earlier this year, in January, Khaleda Zia went to London for medical treatment. There she met her son after a long time. After treatment, she returned home, but Tarique did not.

BNP leaders had been saying that their acting chairman would return “soon,” though they could not give any specific date.

Meanwhile, BNP announced a partial list of candidates for the 13th parliamentary election. It stated that for the first time, he would contest from Bogura-6. After this announcement, speculation about Tarique’s return intensified.

On November 23, Khaleda Zia again fell ill and was hospitalized. Questions resurfaced as to why Tarique was still not returning.

The situation became more complicated after Tarique Rahman made a statement on November 29. In a Facebook post, he wrote, “In such a time of crisis, I too have the intense longing, like any child, to receive my mother’s affectionate touch. But, unlike others, I do not have an unrestricted and independent ability to make my own decisions in this matter.”

Questions then grew louder about what was preventing Tarique Rahman’s return. Some even questioned whether he was under political asylum in London and what his legal ‘status’ there was.

The government said that Tarique Rahman does not have a passport, but they would arrange a travel pass if he applied.

He did not apply for such a pass. Instead, he tried to take his ailing mother to London. At one point, the doctors even gave permission. But complications arose over the air ambulance. Later, as Khaleda Zia’s condition deteriorated, her travel to London was postponed indefinitely.

Khaleda Zia is still in the hospital. In the meantime, Tarique’s wife Zubaida Rahman has returned to the country. Now Mirza Fakhrul has announced Tarique Rahman’s return date.

At Friday night’s press briefing, he said, “We believe that the obstacles standing in the way of democracy will be removed once Tarique Rahman arrives in the country.”

Referring to the meeting between Tarique Rahman and Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in London last May, the BNP secretary general said, “In that meeting, it was decided that the national parliamentary election would be held within February. So whatever concerns we had about the election disappeared.

“With the announcement of the election schedule yesterday, the electoral train has started moving, and the hopes and expectations of the people across the country are now moving toward reality.”