His office and house being readied - Tarique may return even before election schedule in Dec: Fakhrul tells TBS

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said that the party's Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman could return to the country before the schedule for the 13th national election is announced, and his office and house are being prepared.

In an exclusive interview with The Business Standard's Executive Editor Shakhawat Liton, when asked who would be the BNP's prime ministerial candidate, Fakhrul said, "Our party chairperson, Begum Khaleda Zia, will assume the role if she is physically well enough.

"Otherwise, it will be our acting chairman, Tarique Rahman."

Asked when Tarique, who has been living in London since 2008, will return, Fakhrul said, "Very soon. He just has a few issues to settle -- some legal and some personal."

When asked whether Tarique will return home before the election schedule is announced, the senior BNP leader replied, "I can't say [when] for certain at this moment. But certainly before that."

"He could even return before that," Fakhrul said when asked whether Tarique, the eldest son of Khaleda Zia, would return before the schedule is announced in December.

Tarique's house and office are being readied at the BNP chairperson's office in Gulshan for that, he added.

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah told a press briefing on 7 August that the election schedule will be announced in the first half of December, with the polls slated for the first half of February next year.

The talk of Tarique's return has been making the rounds in the media after the Awami League regime fell in last year's mass uprising led by students.

Senior BNP leaders have been hinting at Tarique's return for some time now, especially since he is now acquitted in almost all cases against him.

Even yesterday (7 September), BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed said Tarique will return to Bangladesh soon, and that day will effectively mark the completion of half of the party's campaign for the upcoming national polls.

According to Tarique's lawyers, a total of 84 cases were filed against him over the years. Of these, he was convicted by trial courts in five cases, including the 21 August grenade attack case, the Zia Orphanage Trust case, a money laundering case, a defamation case in Narail, and a case over amassing wealth beyond known sources of income.

Tarique's return will mark half of BNP’s election campaign: Salahuddin

However, since 5 August last year, he has been acquitted of all these convictions by the High Court.

Recently, on 4 September, the Appellate Division upheld a verdict of the High Court, acquitting all accused, including Tarique, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, who had been sentenced to death, in two cases filed over the grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on 21 August 2004.

Following an earlier statement on Tarique's return by Fakhrul on 10 June, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said on 12 June that there is no obstacle to the acting BNP chairman's return to Bangladesh. "He is a citizen of this country and can come back whenever he wishes."