5 months ago
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Stepping retired of the wood-panelled VVIP accomplishment lounge of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport connected December 25, Tarique Rahman, the acting president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), walked to a tiny grassy spot beside the car park, took disconnected his shoes, and stepped onto the ground. It was a motion signalling that helium had reconnected with the onshore of his commencement and yet secured the governmental motorboat that was denied to him erstwhile Bangladesh spiralled into governmental uncertainty successful precocious 2006, preventing him from contesting his archetypal parliamentary election. In his code aft returning from London, Mr. Rahman struck an inclusive tone, calling for inter-communal and inter-ethnic harmony successful Bangladesh, and, with an oculus connected his governmental enemies, acceptable astir dismantling immoderate of the allegations levelled against the BNP by its opponents.
From 2009 to 2024, Sheikh Hasina had repeatedly described the BNP and Mr. Rahman’s mother, Khaleda Zia, arsenic pro-Pakistan. In his code astatine the July 36 Expressway, Mr. Rahman invoked the BNP’s links to the 1971 Liberation War and the governmental developments of November 7, 1971 that brought his father, the precocious Gen. Ziaur Rahman, to de facto power. In doing so, Mr. Rahman signalled that, overmuch similar Ms. Hasina’s reliance connected the bequest of her father, helium excessively would physique his governmental communicative astir the fable of his father. Gen. Ziaur Rahman began his vocation arsenic a worker successful the Pakistan Army and fought against India successful the 1965 war, and aboriginal defected from the Pakistani subject to state the independency of East Pakistan hours aft the Pakistan subject launched Operation Searchlight connected March 25, 1971.
Through his code and consequent messages, Mr. Rahman has signalled that this time, helium had travel acceptable with an alternate imaginativeness for Bangladesh — 1 successful which the erstwhile regime’s iconography would beryllium challenged by the icons of the BNP.
The monolithic crowds that greeted him connected December 25 and 26 mightiness person fixed him a expansive welcome, but Mr. Rahman was rapidly reminded of the perils of Bangladeshi politics. Jamaat-e-Islami main Shafiqur Rahman said his party, the country’s largest Islamist party, would “keep an eye” connected Mr. Rahman. The remark was peculiarly important due to the fact that by emphasising inclusion, Mr. Rahman had conveyed that this time, dissimilar his past stint that ended successful 2007, helium intended to prosecute a antithetic trajectory.
Political trajectory
The governmental travel of Mr. Rahman was shaped by the traumatic memories of his childhood. On May 29, 1981, erstwhile helium was successful his teens, his begetter near for the larboard metropolis of Chittagong for an unscheduled visit. A time later, helium was changeable and killed successful an attempted coup that lasted lone 3 days. After the assassination of Gen. Zia, the BNP was energetically led by Khaleda Zia, who often wore achromatic and joined hands with her arch enemy, Sheikh Hasina, to situation the subject dictator, Hossein Mohammed Ershad. Ms. Zia went connected to go Bangladesh’s archetypal pistillate Prime Minister successful 1991. Mr. Rahman started his ceremonial governmental travel connected June 22, 2002 erstwhile the BNP appointed him its 1st associated secretary.
During this period, Mr. Rahman earned a sanction for himself that recovered notation successful U.S. Embassy cables from Dhaka, aboriginal released by WikiLeaks successful 2005. Ms. Zia’s instrumentality to powerfulness coincided with the U.S. warfare connected terror, centred connected the Af-Pak portion but with far-reaching consequences for South Asia. Amid respective bequest information issues, the BNP was accused of hosting the enactment of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) successful Dhaka, which gave Bangladesh-India relations nether Khaleda Zia a strained reputation.
More serious, however, were allegations of links betwixt immoderate elder BNP figures and the extremist Jamaatul Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB), led by Bangla Bhai. While the JMB was designated a violent organisation internationally, Ms. Zia refused to admit the links betwixt enactment leaders and the panic group. One U.S. Embassy cablegram referred to Mr. Rahman’s “steely nerves” for which helium was being recognised wrong the enactment and dubbed him “The Dark Prince”. “Tarique Rahman has the Zia name, governmental cunning,” 1 cablegram noted, describing him arsenic a “uniquely polarizing fig successful Bangladeshi politics” and “ruthless”. The U.S. Embassy predicted that Mr. Rahman was getting acceptable to contention the 2007 election, but cautioned that helium would not bid wide enactment wrong the enactment if Ms. Zia pressed excessively hard for her lad to look arsenic the adjacent Prime Minister.
Mr. Rahman’s vocation plans were disrupted connected January 11, 2007 erstwhile the army-backed interim authorities of President Iajuddin Ahmed declared exigency successful Bangladesh. The exigency launched a large anti-corruption thrust that targeted some Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia. It was, however, the attraction of Mr. Rahman by the officials that generated sympathy for him.
In 2009, during a gathering with a overseas diplomat successful his London flat, Mr. Rahman said helium had been tortured successful custody, leaving him with a spinal wounded that required prolonged aesculapian treatment. Thereafter, helium remained mostly confined to London, looking aft the BNP’s activities successful the U.K., addressing supporters via video nexus and engaging with overseas diplomats and visiting politicians from his home. As Ms. Zia’s wellness declined, Mr. Rahman’s presumption wrong the enactment became progressively clear, a presumption further consolidated by his backing of the BNP’s boycott of the 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections. The enactment insisted that polls beryllium held nether a caretaker government, accusing the Hasina authorities of bias.
Key player
The invited fixed to him has ensured that Mr. Rahman volition beryllium a large player, and perchance the premier ministerial candidate, successful the adjacent election. That prominence has besides heightened his interior vulnerabilities and drawn greater attraction from abroad. Ahead of his arrival, parties specified arsenic Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party had held rallies crossed the country. Yet, the standard of the crowds Mr. Rahman drew for his meetings astatine the July 36 Expressway, the Shaheed Minar and astatine the Sharif Osman Hadi memorial astatine the Dhaka University, has made those erstwhile rallies airy successful comparison.
His accomplishment has already shaken the established governmental equations successful Bangladesh. The NCP’s Arshadul Haque resigned soon aft Rahman’s arrival, citing his discomfort with its seat-sharing talks with Jamaat, and went connected to endorse Mr. Rahman for his inclusive approach.
At the aforesaid time, friction has rocked the eight-party Islamist conjugation implicit seat-sharing arrangements. Reports from Dhaka suggest that attacks by Islamist mobs — from the burning of paper offices to assaults connected salient taste institutions specified arsenic Chhayanaut — person triggered a drift of leaders and voters towards the BNP.
However, it remains to beryllium seen if Mr. Rahman tin clasp connected to the momentum and crook it into a decisive victory.
