BNP's acting chief Tarique Rahman set to return Bangladesh on Thursday: Reports

Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party's Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, who has been living in self-exile in London for nearly 17 years, is set to return home on Thursday, local media reported.

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.

He will depart London's Heathrow Airport on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight with his wife, Dr Zubaida Rahman, and daughter Zaima Rahman, according to the Dhaka Tribune newspaper.

He is expected to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here on Thursday at 11:55 am local time. Rahman will travel by road from the airport.

According to reports, party leaders and activists will line both sides of the road to greet him. The BNP leader is expected to give a speech at the reception. Following the speech, he will visit his 80-year-old ailing mother at Evercare Hospital in Bashundhara.

He is also scheduled to visit the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation to meet those injured in the July 2024 uprising.

The airport will be under special security from December 24, with restricted public access and intensified intelligence surveillance, the report added.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (media) Talebur Rahman stated that full security measures in connection with Tarique Rahman have been taken.

Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that law enforcement agencies have been instructed to maintain maximum vigilance and adopt top-tier security measures.

Authorities are deploying a “double-layer” security cordon combining state and party measures across Dhaka ahead of Rahman’s arrival, Dhaka Tribune reported.

On Saturday, he will be formally registered as a voter and later visit the grave of Osman Hadi, the youth leader who was recently shot and killed, near the Dhaka University Central Mosque, it said.

Rahman was arrested during the 2007 caretaker government, jailed for about 18 months, and left for the UK in 2008 for medical treatment.

BNP has re-emerged as the frontrunner in the changed political landscape after a student-led violent street protest toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024.