Is Tarique Rahman set to become next PM of Bangladesh? BNP’s acting chief and son of ex-PM returns home after 17 years in exile

Tarique Rahman, the son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is set to return home on Thursday, ending nearly 17 years of living abroad by choice. His party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is preparing a huge public welcome. The party expects around 50 lakh supporters to gather to receive him. Rahman will arrive with his wife, Dr Zubaida Rahman, and their daughter, Zaima.

His return comes at a very sensitive time as the country is seeing strong public anger after the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, and national elections are scheduled for February. Because of this, Rahman’s homecoming is being seen as politically important.

At 60 years old, Tarique Rahman is widely viewed as the top contender for the next prime minister’s post. His mother, Khaleda Zia, who is 80 and in poor health, is one of the main reasons he decided to come back. Rahman is currently the acting head of the BNP.

Recent opinion surveys by the US-based International Republican Institute show the BNP leading with about 33 per cent public support, while Jamaat-e-Islami follows closely at 29 per cent.

Rahman has been living in London since 2008. During that time, he faced several criminal cases, including money laundering and an alleged plot to kill Sheikh Hasina. However, after Hasina was removed from power, Rahman was cleared of all charges.

About Tarique Rahman

Tarique Rahman had a difficult early life. During the 1971 Liberation War, he was briefly taken into custody as a child. The BNP later described him as one of the youngest prisoners of war. He studied international relations at Dhaka University and entered politics when he was just 23 years old.

His father, Ziaur Rahman, rose to power after the 1975 military coup, during which Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of Sheikh Hasina, was killed. Ziaur Rahman became president but was assassinated in 1981, when Tarique was only 15.

Tarique Rahman’s return to Bangladesh is expected to signal his official leadership of the BNP’s election campaign.

In October 2018, a court sentenced Rahman and 18 others to life imprisonment in connection with the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack. That attack, which took place on August 21, 2004, killed 24 people at an Awami League rally while Khaleda Zia was prime minister. At the time of sentencing, the special tribunal described the attack as a carefully planned act carried out by misusing state power.

Rahman was earlier arrested in 2007 during an anti-corruption crackdown under a military-backed interim government. He later fell seriously ill, claiming he had been tortured in custody. In 2008, he was granted bail and allowed to travel to London for medical treatment, where he continued to live for many years.

In 2023, a court sentenced him in absentia to nine years in prison in a case related to illegal wealth accumulation.

However, the political situation changed after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024, following a student-led movement. After that, Tarique Rahman was cleared of all 84 cases against him, including those linked to the 2004 grenade attack, money laundering, sedition, and the Zia Charitable Trust case.