Tarique to return to Bangladesh soon, says Fakhrul

No date has yet been set for the BNP leader’s return to Bangladesh, he says

Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is expected to return to the country “soon”, said the party’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Speaking at the party chairperson’s office in Gulshan on Tuesday, Fakhrul hinted at the possibility of Tarique’s return but did not specify any date.

Fakhrul recently travelled to Thailand for eye surgery and returned to Bangladesh on Friday.

Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus is set to meet Tarique in London on his four-day official visit to the UK. The meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, according to the BNP.

Tarique travelled to London in 2008 for advanced medical treatment following his release from prison. He was accompanied by his wife Zubaida Rahman and their daughter Zaima Rahman.

The family has not returned to Bangladesh since then.

Tarique has recently been acquitted in a series of cases filed against him after the Awami League government fell in August.

On May 28, the High Court overturned a conviction in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, acquitting both Tarique and his wife Zubaida.

Zubaida returned to Bangladesh on May 6, ending a 17-year exile as she accompanied her mother-in-law, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Tarique, however, has yet to follow.