Tarique Rahman

He was born on 20 November 1965, Tarique was involved in politics from a young age and rose to prominence in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) during his mother's tenure as prime minister in the early 2000s.

Rahman was widely seen as a powerful figure in the BNP and held several high-profile positions within the party, including the post of senior joint secretary general.

Rahman was born on 20 November 1967 in Karachi, Pakistan.

He belongs to a notable Bengali Muslim political family of Mandals hailing from Bagbari in Gabtali, Bogra District.

His paternal family also have Iranian ancestry via his great-grandmother Meherunnisa, whose forefathers arrived in Ghoraghat during the Mughal period.

In 1984-85, he was admitted to the University of Dhaka first in the Department of Law and later in the Department of International Relations.

Rahman started his political career as a primary member of the BNP Gabtali Upazila, Bogura District in 1988.

Rahman actively assembled support for the party during the national elections of 1991, when the transition was taking place from the autocratic ruling to the democratic government.

Rahman was a member of the BNP's National Campaign Strategy Committee, and was also responsible for coordinating the election campaigns in five constituencies from which his mother Khaleda Zia was contesting.

During that period, he proactively organized the BNP units of Bogura and changed the inherent cultures to make politics more production and development oriented.

After the BNP's success in the national elections of 1991 and the formation of the new government, Rahman was offered a senior role in the party as recognition of his contributions.

However, he was reluctant to take up a higher position in order to have enough time to strengthen the party at the grassroots level.

For many years, he remained active in developing the Bogura units of the BNP.

During the national elections of 1996, the party grassroots and the senior leadership requested Rahman to contest a constituency from Bogura.

But he declined the offer with a view to furthering his work at the grassroots levels and coordinating the election campaigns for his mother.

During the ruling of the Awami League government in 1996–2001, Rahman mobilized movements against the actions of the government.

He actively campaigned to address issues of economic deprivation and started championing a countrywide consultation program aimed at publicizing the plight of the people living in rural areas.

This large-scale program, the first in the history of Bangladesh of this nature, drove mass mobilization against the government, which in turn, played an instrumental role in fostering the return of the BNP to power.

He established the secret ballot system in Bogura to elect leaders through open council.

In the national elections held in 2001, the party won a landslide victory with a two-thirds majority.

Tarique Rahman, is the prime convict to be the mastermind of 21 August 2004 terrorist grenade attack on a public rally organized by the then-opposition party Awami League.

The attack using military grade Arges grenade targeted the entire top leadership of Awami League including current prime minister Sheikh Hasina and killed 24 Awami league leaders and workers including Ivy Rahman, President of Women Awami League and wife of late President Zillur Rahman.

The attack also injured hundreds of victims and many became permanently crippled.

He has been sentenced to life imprisonment by Bangladesh Court.

In 2008, Tarique's mother lost the general election, and the BNP was replaced by the Awami League-led government.

Tareq Zia went into self-imposed exile in London soon after, citing concerns for his safety and claiming that he was being persecuted by the authorities.

He has since been living in the United Kingdom and has largely remained out of the public eye.

Despite his absence from Bangladesh's political scene, Tarique remains a controversial figure in the country's politics, with many of his detractors accusing him of corruption and nepotism.

Following the release of Rahman's mother Khaleda Zia on 11 September 2008, he flew to London, United Kingdom for medical treatment at Wellington hospital, an independent private hospital in St. John's Wood.

The 1/11 interim government backed by the army confirmed that Rahman gave written bond of not to indulge in any future politics and was allowed to go abroad.

The Anti corruption Commission filed 12 cases against Rahman and his friend and business partner, Giasuddin Al Mamun, which BNP claims is politically motivated and cases are being filed as part of the conspiracy of the immediate past caretaker government to prevent Rahman from participating in Bangladesh politics.

On 16 October 2009 the High Court issued a rule asking the government and the Anti Corruption Commission Bangladesh to explain why the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case against Khaleda Zia and Rahman should not be quashed on a petition filed by Zia.

His father, Ziaur Rahman, was the 7th President of Bangladesh, and his mother, Begum Khaleda Zia, was the 10th Prime Minister and first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

In his early childhood he studied at BAF Shaheen College Dhaka and completed his SSC from Dhaka Residential Model College.

He then earned his HSC from Adamjee Cantonment College.

On 9 November 2017, the Bangladesh Supreme Court dismissed Khaleda and Rahman's petition seeking stay on trial proceedings on the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.

The lower court now has no legal bar to continue the corruption case against them.

Khaleda Zia said her son would take part in active politics upon his return from abroad after completing treatment.

Tarique Rahman also known as Tarique Zia is a Bangladeshi politician and businessman who is the current acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since February 2018.

He is the eldest son of former president Ziaur Rahman and former two-time prime minister Khaleda Zia.