Govt issued Tarique Rahman, his wife’s arrest fearing BNP’s mass movement: Rizvi

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said today that the government issued an arrest warrant against Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairperson Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman fearing BNP's mass movement.

"The government filed the case against Tarique Rahman and his family in fear of losing power," Rizvi made the remarks on Tuesday (1 November) after a rally at Capital's Naya Paltan protesting the arrest warrant.

A thousand BNP men attended the rally demanding immediate withdrawal of the arrest warrant issued against Tarique and his wife.

"The government is using the law and court to oppress the opposition party. But it cannot survive using law enforcement agencies," Ruhul Kabir Rizvi added.

Earlier today (1 November), a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The court also directed the officer-in-charge of Cantonment Police Station to submit the progress report on the execution of the arrest warrants against them by 5 January.

According to case details, the ACC filed a case on 26 September, 2007 at the capital's Kafrul police station against Tarique Rahman, his wife Zubaida Rahman and Tariq Rahman's mother-in-law Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing assets worth Tk4 crore 81 lakh 53 thousand 561 beyond the declared income and concealing the information of assets and acquiring assets outside the known income.

On 25 June this year, the High Court declared Tarique and Zubaida as "fugitives" and rejected their writ petitions challenging the filing and initiation of the graft case.

Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman have been living in London since 2008.