BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday night said that the party’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman will return to Bangladesh on December 25, ending nearly 18 years in exile.
“It is with great joy that I inform you that our Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman – the most beloved leader of millions, who has been in exile for almost 18 years and has led the democratic movement for more than a decade – will arrive in Dhaka on 25 December,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office, Fakhrul expressed hope that Tarique’s return would help remove obstacles on the path to democracy.
“We believe that once our Acting Chairman returns home, the barriers placed before the democratic transition will begin to disappear,” he added.
During the 1/11 government, Tarique Rahman was arrested on March 7, 2007. He was granted bail on September 3, 2008, and left for London with his family on September 11 for medical treatment. Since then, he has been living in London with wife Zubaida Rahman and daughter Zaima Rahman.
During the last Awami League government, he was sentenced in five different cases in his absence, while around 100 cases were filed against him.
But after the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, he was cleared of all charges through legal processes. Now, he has no cases pending against him.
At the age of 22, he became a member of the Gabtali Upazila BNP in Bogura district in 1988. He had been involved in politics even before formally joining the organisation.
On 3 February 1994, Tarique married Dr Zubaida Rahman, the daughter of former Air Force Chief and former Communications and Agriculture Minister Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan. Their only daughter, Zaima Rahman, completed her law degree at Queen Mary University of London.
In 1988, Tarique founded the non-political social organisation ‘Ziaur Rahman Foundation’.
He took part in the nationwide election campaign alongside his mother, Khaleda Zia, during the 1991 election. However, he was less active in politics afterwards, despite the BNP forming the government following that election.
He played a significant role in the 2001 election campaign, during which the BNP won a landslide victory and formed the government.
In 2002, following a decision by the BNP Standing Committee, Tarique Rahman was appointed Senior Joint Secretary General of the party. He rose to prominence through his extensive travels across the country to strengthen the party at the grassroots.
Tarique went to London for medical treatment on 11 September 2008, and he has been living there with his family since then. A large part of Tarique’s political life has been spent abroad, during which he faced numerous setbacks.
He lost his brother, Arafat Rahman Koko, while in exile in London. During his time abroad, he was elected Senior Vice-Chairman at the BNP’s Fifth National Council in 2009 and re-elected to the position at the Sixth National Council in 2016.
Since the imprisonment of his mother and party Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on 8 February 2018, Tarique has been serving as the acting chairman of the BNP.
