By PTI December 2, 2025
Tarique Rahman, son of ailing former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia and BNP acting chairman, who has lived in self-exile in London since 2008, is preparing to return to Bangladesh, a senior party leader said Monday.
BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters after a meeting of the party’s top decision-making body that Rahman “will return to Bangladesh soon.” The meeting also discussed the current political situation and strategies for the upcoming election campaign, The Daily Star reported.
The development comes as the 80-year-old BNP chairperson remains in critical condition at Dhaka’s Evercare Hospital. Zia was admitted on November 23 with infections affecting her heart and lungs, moved to the coronary care unit four days later when complications worsened, and was placed on ventilation Sunday night, BNP Vice-Chairman Advocate Ahmed Aazam Khan said. “She is in a very critical condition. There is nothing more to do except seek prayers from the whole nation,” he told reporters.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir confirmed Zia’s critical state and said both local and international medical specialists are involved in her care. Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced deep concern over her health and offered support.
According to BNP leaders, Tarique Rahman is awaiting issuance of a new Bangladeshi passport and is unwilling to use a one-time travel pass offered by the interim government. Election Commission Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said Rahman is not registered as a voter in Bangladesh but may register if permitted by the Election Commission.
Security around Zia has been tightened. Police erected a barricade at the hospital’s main gate around 2:00 am Tuesday, and more than two dozen police personnel were deployed to manage patient movement and bolster security, hospital sources told The Daily Star. Four members of the Special Security Force (SSF) inspected the hospital from midnight for nearly three hours. The interim government on Monday declared Zia a “very, very important person,” enabling SSF deployment. Zia is staying in a cabin on the fourth floor; adjacent cabins have been vacated under security protocols.
BNP has re-emerged as a leading force in Bangladesh’s altered political landscape after a student-led street protest toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024.
