Exiled BNP heir set for political homecoming

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.

- Agencies

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.”

BNP leaders said they are preparing for what they call an “unprecedented” gathering in the capital, aiming to draw more than five million supporters along the route from the airport to the reception venue.

“This will be a defining political moment,” senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, adding that security arrangements are being closely coordinated with authorities to ensure order.