Tarique Rahman, the acting chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is expected to return to Bangladesh in the first week of December, ending 17 years of self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom, party officials said.
Rahman has long been synonymous with corruption and political violence in Bangladesh. A 2008 U.S. Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks described him as “the notoriously corrupt and violent son” of Khaleda Zia, adding that “much of what is wrong in Bangladesh can be blamed on Tarique and his cronies.”
During the BNP’s 2001–2006 rule, he operated a shadow government from his Hawa Bhaban office, overseeing a vast network of extortion, bribery, and patronage. His name is linked to the 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka that killed 24 people. He was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the case.
Upon his return, Rahman plans to campaign nationwide for the BNP. The party has purchased two bulletproof SUVs, and he will reside in a two-story home on about 1.1 acres next to his mother’s Gulshan residence, “Feroza.”