Tarique will return from London after full recovery: Rizvi

BNP acting chief Tarique Rahman is receiving treatment in London but has not made a full recovery, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said.

The senior joint secretary general of the party informed the media about Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique’s health amid discussions about his return after a UK minister recently revealed Bangladesh had formally asked for his extradition.

“Tarique Rahman is legally on bail in London for treatment. He has not recovered yet. His treatment is under way. He will return once he is cured,” Rizvi told a press conference at the BNP headquarters in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Tarique, sentenced to up to life in jail for money laundering, corruption and a deadly grenade attack on an Awami League rally targeting Sheikh Hasina in 2004, has been in London for over a decade.

The elder son of BNP chief Khaleda Zia was promoted to the powerful post of senior vice-chairman from senior joint secretary general a year after leaving Bangladesh in 2008 following his release from jail on parole for treatment.

He was arrested on corruption charges during the military-backed caretaker government.

When Khaleda was put in jail in February last year for corruption, the BNP made him the acting chief while the Awami League government has continued to push the UK for his extradition.

File Photo: Tarique Rahman at a BNP programme in London in 2014.

Visiting British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field, when asked in a media interaction on Sunday, reiterated his government’s position not to comment on individual case, but said an extradition request has been made by the Bangladesh government.

“It is the policy of the UK government not to comment on individual immigration cases,” he said, adding that their courts and police are independent on dealing with those issues.

“It is not for politicians to decide,” Diked had said and pointed out that there was no extradition agreement between Bangladesh and the UK and that can make things “complicated”.

On Tuesday, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said the government had written to the UK government to get Tarique back because the two countries did not have an extradition pact.

The Awami League publicity and publication secretary also dared Tarique to return and surrender if the BNP leader considered himself “a victim of political vengeance”.

“The people know how courageous they, who hold votes in the dark of the night like cowards, are,” Rizvi said in response to Hasan Mahmud’s comments.