Staff Reporter :
The debate surrounding Tarique Rahman’s long-anticipated return to Bangladesh intensified on Tuesday after two senior members of the interim government said there are no barriers—legal, administrative or security-related—to prevent the BNP acting chairman from coming home.
Home affairs adviser Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told reporters that “there is no security threat for anyone in Bangladesh,” responding to questions on whether the ministry was preparing special protection measures for Rahman if he travels back before the upcoming national election.
Speaking at a press conference at the Secretariat, he said the ministry
stands ready to provide additional security to anyone who needs it and added that the BDR mutiny investigation report has also been taken under “serious consideration.”
Earlier in the morning, foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain said Tarique Rahman has not yet applied for a travel pass.
“If he wants, the travel pass will be issued,” he told journalists. He declined to confirm whether Rahman currently holds a Bangladeshi passport, saying he had no “specific information” at this moment.
Hossain added that the government is also prepared to facilitate Khaleda Zia’s travel abroad for medical treatment should her family and party decide.
The remarks came at a moment when the BNP leadership continues to insist that Rahman intends to return “within weeks,” as the Election Commission moves toward announcing the schedule for the general election in the second week of December.
The Commission’s plan has injected fresh urgency into a political season already charged with speculation over whether Rahman will end his 16-year exile to lead the BNP’s campaign.
BNP insiders say Rahman aims to return before the election timetable is unveiled, though senior leaders acknowledge privately that he is weighing his options carefully and avoiding any abrupt move.
Several within the party now frame his return as “inevitable,” but concede that “many factors” are shaping the timing.
The speculation escalated sharply after Rahman wrote on Facebook that despite his mother Khaleda Zia’s grave health condition, he does not possess “unrestricted or sole authority” to decide on returning.
His comment triggered intense debate over who—or what—is influencing the decision even in the post-Hasina landscape. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir refused to elaborate beyond saying, “Everything is explained in Tarique Rahman’s status.”
In response, the chief adviser’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, stated on Facebook that the government has “no restrictions or objections” to Rahman’s homecoming.
Khaleda Zia’s critical hospitalisation on Friday has added an emotional dimension to the political drama. Doctors describe her condition as “grave,” and social media has filled with pleas urging Rahman to return immediately.
BNP has said Rahman yearns for his mother’s touch “like any son,” but lacks the freedom to make the decision independently—a message he echoed in his Facebook post.
Rahman has lived in London since 2008 after leaving Bangladesh under the military-backed caretaker government.
In his memoir, BNP veteran Moudud Ahmed wrote that Khaleda Zia may have reached an understanding with military authorities requiring her son to avoid active politics—an arrangement BNP later suggested contributed to Rahman’s political asylum request in the UK in 2012. His asylum was approved the following year.
For years, BNP maintained that “false cases and political obstruction” under Sheikh Hasina’s government kept him from returning.
But Hasina’s ouster in August 2024 and the withdrawal of major cases against Rahman and his wife Zubaida raised new questions about what is still holding him back. Some BNP insiders quietly suggest that objections from “influential foreign states” may be shaping the timeline, though they offer no specifics.
Political analyst Mohiuddin Ahmed said Rahman’s recent Facebook message indicates that his return depends on “many factors beyond his control,” pointing to earlier WikiLeaks disclosures showing U.S. reservations about him and arguing that Bangladesh’s politics remains tied to the strategic calculus of Washington and New Delhi.
Despite the uncertainty, senior BNP leaders continue to assert that Rahman will return once the Election Commission finalises the election timetable, expected in mid-December.
As the political calendar tightens, the question of whether Tarique Rahman will finally set foot in Bangladesh—and under what constraints—has become the defining storyline of this election season, with the government insisting that no obstacles remain and all preparations are in place should he choose to board a flight home.
