Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday said the party’s senior-vice chairman Tarique Rahman’s health had improved remarkably
and he would return from the UK ‘very soon’.
Fakhrul made the remarks at the Shahjalal International Airport on his return after attending a seminar in London.
Fakhrul declined comments on the verdicts delivered against Jamaat-e-Islami
leaders Ghulam Azam and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed by the International Crimes Tribunals for the crimes they had committed against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
On July 15, Fakhrul left Dhaka to lead a delegation of BNP at the seminar at the House of Lords on ‘democracy, human rights and good governance in Bangladesh’.
Talking to reporters at the airport, Fakhrul said he had met with Tarique Rahman in London and enquired about his health condition.
In reply to a question, he said Tarique would return home ‘very soon’ after complete recovery from his ‘illness’.
Asked when Tarique would be active in politics, he said it would depend on the advice of Tarique’s physicians and he would return home at their advice.
Fakhrul denied news reports that he had discussed with Tarique the issue of party nominations for aspirants in the next general elections.
Asked whether Tarique’s wife would join politics, he said there was ‘no such possibility’.
Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, has been staying in London since September 2008 for ‘treatment’ after being released from jail on bail.
He was arrested in March 2007 during the army-backed caretaker government on charge of extortion and corruption.
About the seminar in London, Fakhrul told the reporters that they had projected before the world community Bangladesh’s present political situation and urgency of an election-time non-party neutral caretaker government.
He said the BNP still hoped that the government would accept the demand for a non-party government.
A delegation of ruling Awami League also attended the seminar in London.
-With New Age input
