Bangladesh political heavyweight Tarique Rahman to end exile

DHAKA (AFP): The heir to Bangladesh’s longtime ruling family and a leader of its most powerful political party, Tarique Rahman is set to return home after 17 years in exile and ahead of key elections.

Rahman, 60, an aspiring prime minister who has lived in London since he fled Bangladesh in 2008 over what he called a politically motivated persecution, is due to arrive in Dhaka on Thursday.

Acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), he is expected to take the reins from his ailing mother, 80-year-old former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in the February 12, 2026 elections.

But she was hospitalised soon after that pledge, and she has been in intensive care ever since.

The elections will be the first since a mass uprising last year ended the 15-year hardline rule of Sheikh Hasina, who was at odds with the BNP.

Since Hasina’s fall from power, Rahman has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a Hasina rally. He had denied the charges.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has promised Rahman will “arrive among us on the soil of Dhaka” on December 25, which he said will be a “fantastic day.”

Rahman, often pictured beside his mother on BNP banners, has long been groomed for leadership.

In June, he met in London with Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading the interim government until the February elections.

Violent politics

Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, carries a political name that has defined his life.

Born in 1967 when the country was still East Pakistan, he was briefly detained as a child during the 1971 independence war. The BNP hails him as “one of the youngest prisoners of war”.

His father, Zia ur Rahman, was an army commander.

Zia ur Rahman gained influence months after a 1975 coup in which Sheikh Hasina’s father – founding leader Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman was murdered.

That fuelled lifelong tensions between the Zia and Hasina families, dubbed the “Battle of the Begums”– “begum” meaning a powerful woman.

Zia ur Rahman was assassinated when his son was 15.

The younger Rahman grew up in his mother’s political orbit, as Zia went on to become the country’s first female prime minister, alternating her terms in power with Hasina.

Rahman briefly studied international relations at Dhaka University before entering politics at 23, joining the BNP in its fight against military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad, according to his party.

‘Unnerves many’

Still, Rahman’s career has been dogged by allegations of nepotism and mismanagement.

A 2006 US embassy cable described him as the BNP’s “heir apparent” who “inspires few but unnerves many”.

Other cables labelled him a “symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics” and accused him of being “phenomenally corrupt” – claims he rejected as politically motivated.

Rahman was arrested on corruption charges in 2007 and claimed he was tortured in custody.

Reports suggested his release was conditional on leaving politics. Freed later that year, he flew to London in 2008 for medical treatment and never returned.

After Hasina swept to power in 2008, her government jailed tens of thousands of BNP members.

In 2018, Rahman was again sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for allegedly orchestrating the 2004 attack on Hasina’s rally – a case the BNP called a bid to eliminate the Zia dynasty from politics.

In Britain, he kept a low profile alongside his wife, a cardiologist, and their daughter.

Since Hasina’s ouster, Rahman emerged as an outspoken figure on social media and a rallying point for BNP supporters.