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Published : 19 Dec 2025, 08:49 PM
The Bangladesh High Commission in London has issued a travel pass for Tarique Rahman in response to the BNP leader’s application for the document, an official said.
A foreign ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Friday the mission took just a day to issue the travel document.
The BNP's acting chief is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Dec 25, the party announced last week.
A senior UK-based BNP leader told bdnews24.com, “Everything is going as planned. [Tarique] has received the travel pass.”
Tarique, the eldest son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, was previously arrested during the 2007-08 military-controlled caretaker government, along with his mother.
After his release, he moved to London with his family and had not returned since.
On Feb 8, 2018, the day Khaleda was jailed in the Zia Orphanage Trust case, the BNP Standing Committee appointed Tarique as acting chairman.
For the last seven years, he has run the party from London through video calls, while Fakhrul and a handful of senior leaders managed the BNP operations on the ground.
In 2020, the Awami League government granted Khaleda conditional freedom through an executive order, leaving her effectively confined to her home and hospital.
The former prime minister made no public political appearances during that time.
After the government change on Aug 5 last year, the president fully lifted her sentence, and the High Court later cleared her of corruption charges.
Tarique, who faced several convictions under the previous government, was also acquitted in multiple cases, removing legal barriers to his return.
Khaleda had travelled to London earlier this year for treatment, meeting her son after many years. Although she returned to Dhaka, Tarique did not travel with her.
The BNP leaders repeatedly hinted that he would “return soon”, but no firm date had been provided until Dec 12.
The announcement of the BNP’s partial candidate list for the parliamentary polls, in which Tarique is contesting in Bogura-6 for the first time, strengthened speculation about his return.
Questions resurfaced when Khaleda was hospitalised again on Nov 23 and Tarique remained in London.
Uncertainty deepened after his Nov 29 Facebook post, in which he wrote that although he longed to be with his ailing mother, the decision to travel was “not fully within [his] unilateral control”.
The debate widened further in political circles: what exactly was preventing him from returning home?
Some questioned whether he was under political asylum in London, and what his precise “status” there might be.
The government earlier said Tarique does not hold a passport but could obtain a travel pass if he applied.
Initially, he had not applied and instead tried to take his ailing mother to the UK, but her health deterioration postponed the plan.
The BNP chief remains hospitalised. In the meantime, Tarique’s wife Zubaida Rahman has arrived.
On Dec 12, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam finally announced Tarique would return on Dec 25.
Preparations for his residence and office in the capital are under way, with plans for an “unprecedented” airport reception.
On Victory Day, Tarique attended a BNP event at London’s City Pavilion, which effectively served as a farewell gathering.
Addressing expatriate BNP members, he said: “In Sha Allah [God willing], with your prayers, I will return on the 25th. I seek your prayers, and please pray for party leader Khaleda Zia.”
