BNP's acting chief Tarique Rahman set to return to Bangladesh after 17-year exile

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman Tarique Rahman is scheduled to land in Dhaka on Thursday, ending more than 17 years of self-exile in the UK.

Rahman, the 60-year-old son of ailing former premier Khaleda Zia, has emerged as a leading contender for prime minister in the upcoming February general elections.

Rahman, the Acting Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and heir to the influential Zia family, is set to return home on Thursday. After 17 years in exile, Rahman has left London for Bangladesh, returning home with his family and ending a long wait for the BNP leaders and activists, BDnews24 reported.

Rahman boarded a Biman Bangladesh flight at 12:15 am Bangladesh time on Thursday with his wife Zubaida Rahman, and daughter Zaima Rahman, the report added.

The flight carrying Rahman has landed at Sylhet Osmani Airport at 9:59 am on Thursday. From here it will be reaching Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport at 11:20 am, the Dhaka Tribune reported. Hafiz Ahmed, director of Sylhet Osmani Airport, confirmed the information to Dhaka Tribune.

After landing, Rahman, on his official Facebook account, posted a photo of himself with a caption: “Back in Bangladesh skies after 6,314 days!” Leaders and activists of the UK unit of the BNP accompanied him to the airport and saw him off up to the security cordon.

"This will be a defining political moment,” BNP spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said while referring to the return of Rahman, who is the elder son of Zia.

The BNP has made extensive preparations to welcome its acting chairman. Party Standing Committee members are set to receive him at the airport, followed by a reception programme.

After arrival, Rahman will travel by road to Evercare Hospital. On the way, he will attend a brief reception arranged by the party, the report added.

Rahman’s return comes as the BNP emerged as the forerunner in the changed political landscape after toppling of the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government in a student-led violent movement dubbed the July Uprising on August 5, 2024.

The party's partner during its 2001-2006 tenure in power, Jamaat-e-Islami and its Islamist allies, now appeared as BNP’s main rival as the interim government disbanded Awami League under the country’s tough Anti-Terrorism Act through an executive order.

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.”