Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia reunited with her exiled son Tarique Rahman in London after seven years when an air ambulance carrying the two-time former Prime Minister landed at Heathrow airport on Wednesday.
Tarique and his wife Zobaida Rahman drove a wheelchair-bound Khaleda, who had been incarcerated for several years during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, to a clinic in London where she will be treated for her ailments.
Soon after Khaleda’s grand send-off from Dhaka, with thousands lining up the streets as her cavalcade drove towards the airport, political circles in Bangladesh were abuzz with discussions on the possible return of the mother-son duo and its likely impact on the country’s volatile politics.
Bangladesh has been caught in a quagmire of political and economic crises since the fall of the Hasina government in the face of protests.
“Our chairperson was supposed to go to London for treatment some time ago, but she couldn’t go as she fell ill.... She left only after her doctors gave her the clearance to fly. She will be back soon after receiving treatment,” BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir told this newspaper from Dhaka.
Dhaka is rife with speculation over whether the former Prime Minister will be allowed to return to the country, now ruled by an interim government headed by
Muhammed Yunus.
Political observers feel that the “minus two” formula — which refers to the defenestration of Khaleda and Hasina — proposed by the Nobel Peace Prize winner and some prominent members of the Bangladesh civil society in 2006 may succeed now.
The “minus two” formula had failed at that time as the Battling Begums — who were arrested by a caretaker regime that ruled the country between 2006 and 2008 — had buried their differences and fought together, forcing the authorities to hold an election in which Hasina returned to power with a thumping majority.
Dr Zobaida Rahman, wife of Tareque Rahman, with Khaleda Zia at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday. Sourced by The Telegraph
Tarique has been in exile since 2008 as he was convicted in a slew of cases during the Awami League’s rule. Khaleda, who last met her son in 2017 when she was in London for treatment, was also slapped with a multitude of cases that led to her arrest. After the change of guard in Bangladesh, most of these charges were dropped against the duo, paving the way for Khaleda’s freedom and throwing up the possibility of Tarique’s homecoming.
A veteran journalist said that ideally Tarique, who is the acting chairperson of the BNP, should have come to the country and escorted his mother to London.
“Her convoy took two-and-a-half hours to reach the airport. It does not take more than 30 minutes to cover the 9km distance from her home. BNP supporters had swamped the roads,” said the source.
“If that’s the kind of support that the BNP enjoys, why didn’t Tarique come to Dhaka?” asked the journalist, wondering if the interim government is at all open to the idea of Tarique’s return.
Though the Yunus-led government has received support from the mother-son duo, their differences are tumbling out in the open on a range of issues, especially on the timing of the next general election that the BNP wants to be held without any delay.
The BNP leadership seems to be running out of patience as leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, who led the protests against Hasina and made Yunus the chief adviser, are keen on large-scale reforms — including the scrapping of the Constitution — before the polls.
Several BNP insiders think that the students, who enjoy the support of radical Islamist outfits such as the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Hizb-ut Tahrir besides being backed by Yunus, are buying time to prepare for the next election in which they will contest.
“It’s impossible for Hasina to come back as she has so many cases against her.... Khaleda is 79 and is in London for the treatment of various ailments.
“So, Yunus’s ‘minus-two’ formula seems to be nearing its fruition,” said a source in Dhaka.
“This plot will go awry if Tarique returns.... All these student leaders will be swept away the moment he is back from London. That’s why he has not been exonerated in all the cases, which explains why he is still in London,” the source added.
Another source close to the BNP leadership said that though the acting chairperson is keen on returning to the country, security concerns and some of the pending cases were coming in the way.
“You know what happened to Benazir Bhutto when she returned to Pakistan after eight years in exile to campaign for elections.... Bangladesh also has a history of political assassinations,” said the source.
After eight years in exile in Dubai and London, Bhutto — who had several corruption cases against her — returned to Pakistan in October 2007 for the 2008 elections. After surviving an assassination attempt in Karachi within days of her homecoming, she died in a suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi within two months of her return to Pakistan.
“Rumours spread like wildfire in Bangladesh. The so-called minus-two formula has no basis in today’s context,” Alamgir told this correspondent.
“Yes, the students are likely to form a political party.... But they don’t have followers. Our acting chairperson still has some cases pending against him. He will return once they are resolved,” he added.
Hasina anger
BNP senior joint secretary-general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Wednesday that the people of Bangladesh had not taken India’s extension of Hasina’s visa positively, reported The Daily Star.
“How could a democratic country shelter that murderer and extend her visa? The people of Bangladesh have not taken this positively,” the BNP leader said.
Recently, Dhaka sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi seeking Hasina’s extradition for a “judicial process”. India is yet to give a formal reply to the letter.