Why Bangladesh's Ex-PM Khaleda Zia's Son Cannot Be By Ailing Mother's Side

Amid reports of the failing health of former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, her son and acting chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Tarique Rahman has said he cannot return to the country to be by his mother's side.

Critics of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus believe his interim government has only made perfunctory gestures to facilitate Rahman's return at this critical time.

"There is no restriction if Tarique Rahman wants to come back. A travel pass can be issued in one day. And if Khaleda Zia needs to travel abroad due to ill health, any assistance required from the interim government will be provided," Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohammed Touhid Hossain said.

"The government has no restrictions or objections in this matter," Yunus's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said.

Rahman is unlikely to return soon, and a Facebook post by him has made it clear that his return, even at this critical juncture, is being held up by matters that are "not in his control".

"In this critical time, I, like any child, have an intense desire to receive my mother's affectionate touch. However, like everyone else, the ability to realise this is neither unreservedly under my sole decision-making authority nor my exclusive control. The scope for elaborating on this sensitive matter is also limited. Our family is hopeful that my prolonged, anxious wait for repatriation will end as soon as this political reality reaches the desired level," Rahman said in a Facebook post.

Rahman has also emerged as a possible future Prime Minister who could take over the reins of the country if his party wins the upcoming election, but critics of the Yunus government say the government is not inclined to facilitate Rahman's return as that would galvanise the BNP cadre. The BNP was the main Opposition party when the Awami League, led by ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was in power.

Rahman has been living abroad since he left the country with his family in 2008 after several cases were filed against him and he was convicted. Under the Sheikh Hasina regime, he was convicted in several cases, which were seen as politically motivated cases against the then Opposition party BNP. Since then, he has been living in the United Kingdom and running the party from abroad.

In 2018, Rahman was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment after a court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy and multiple counts of murder over a 2004 grenade attack. 

In May this year, Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman were acquitted in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). In December last year, the High Court in Dhaka scrapped the lower court's verdict and acquitted all accused in the 2004 grenade attack case.