In the backdrop of a volatile political environment, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman and son of former Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman, landed in Dhaka on Thursday after a nearly 17-year self-imposed exile in the UK.
He returned to a rousing welcome and “double layer” of security, with the BNP Standing Committee members receiving him at the airport. Rahman was accompanied by wife Zubaida Rahman and daughter Zaima Rahman.
His return marks a fresh twist in Bangladesh’s politics, which has been in the news for instability, violence, and most recently, the killing of student leader, Sharif Osman Hadi, who had played a key role in the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year in what was dubbed as the ‘July Uprising’.
Rahman, 60, has since emerged as a leading contender for the post of prime minister in the upcoming February general elections in the country, with BNP emerging as the forerunner, especially in the wake of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League being banned from contesting in the elections by the current interim government under the country’s tough Anti-Terrorism Act through an executive order.
The BNP’s partner during its 2001-2006 tenure in power, Jamaat-e-Islami and its Islamist allies, now appear as its main rival as it assumes significance by trying to expand influence in Bangladesh’s fractured political landscape.
BNP announced Rahman’s return on December 12, sparking speculations as in a Facebook post on November 29, Rahman said, “like any child,” he longs to be near his critically ill mother at her “moment of crisis”.
Also Read: VIP security for Tarique Rahman upon return to Bangladesh
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