February\u2019s general election<\/a>.<\/p>\nHis arrival comes as the BNP regains momentum \u2013 after the 2024 ouster of longtime leader Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\n
Rahman\u2019s return is at a moment \u201cwhen Bangladesh is going through a very volatile and uncertain future\u201d, said Al Jazeera\u2019s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the election date has been announced, there\u2019s a vacuum for leadership and power, particularly within the Bangladesh Nationalist Party \u2013 which is one of the largest parties in Bangladesh \u2013 and his mother [who has] been critically ill, is the chairperson of the party. He\u2019s going to fill up that vacuum,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Rahman is expected to bring unity to the currently polarised country, even while there is criticism that Hasina\u2019s party is not being allowed to participate in the upcoming election, said Chowdhury.<\/p>\n
The former self-exiled leader is expected to have some success with this as the head of the current interim government, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, while also \u201cimmensely popular\u201d, has not been able to \u201cmaintain the kind of law and order and stability that was expected, partly because there\u2019s a lot of remnants of the last government who were in the security forces and in the administration\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
Shifting political landscape<\/p>\n
Rahman had been unable to return to Bangladesh for years while facing multiple criminal cases at home.<\/p>\n
He was convicted in absentia on charges that included money laundering and in a case linked to an alleged plot to assassinate Hasina, but the rulings were overturned after Hasina was \u200cousted last year in a student-led uprising, clearing the legal barriers to Rahman\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
Rahman\u2019s move to London was for medical treatment after he was allegedly tortured while in custody during the military-backed government that ruled from 2006 to 2008.<\/p>\n
His homecoming also carries personal urgency, with Khaleda Zia seriously ill for months. Party officials said Rahman would travel from the airport to a reception \u200cvenue before visiting his mother.<\/p>\n
The political landscape has shifted sharply since Hasina\u2019s removal from power, ending decades in which she and Khaleda \u200cZia largely alternated in office.<\/p>\n
Khaleda Zia, a former housewife, came to politics after her husband, former military chief and then president Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in a military coup in 1981. A non-elected government backed by the military took over in 2006 during a period of political chaos.<\/p>\n
A December survey by the United States-based \u2060International Republican Institute suggested the BNP is on course to win the largest number of parliamentary seats in the elections, with the Jamaat-e-Islami party also in the race. Hasina\u2019s Awami League party, which has been barred from the election, has \u200cthreatened unrest that some fear could disrupt the vote.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh is heading to the polls under Yunus. While authorities have pledged a free and \u200dpeaceful election, recent attacks on media outlets and sporadic violence have raised concerns, making Rahman\u2019s return a defining moment for the BNP and the country\u2019s fragile political transition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The heir to Bangladesh\u2019s longtime ruling family and leader of the country\u2019s powerful opposition, Tarique Rahman, has returned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[521,21710,12,285,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-653745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-bangladesh","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115779274265920455","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}