BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman on Saturday said his party aims to create a collective community 'shield', setting a precedent for ensuring the safety of all, regardless of their caste or creed. He made the pledge in a post on his verified Facebook page on Saturday, extending his wishes to the Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja.  The BNP leader also included a photo of the Hindu goddess Durga with his post. “I believe every Bangladeshi citizen must enjoy equal rights, freedoms, and protection without any distinction between Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Christian,” he said. Democracy is more than elections: Tarique Tarique said, “Our country belongs to all Bangladeshis, and as a united nation, we stand to form a collective community 'shield' and set an example by ensuring the safety of everyone, regardless of their identity or background.” He extended warm greetings to all those celebrating this joyous Durga Puja.  “May this festival bring peace, harmony, and prosperity to every household, and foster cohesion and togetherness among all communities,” Tarique concluded.  Durga Puja, the most significant festival for the Hindu community in Bangladesh, is in full swing, having begun on October 9 with Maha Shashthi. The celebration will culminate on October 13 with the immersion of Durga idols in rivers, marking the conclusion of the Sharadiya Durgotshab.

The High Court today (August 28, 2023) directed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to remove all speeches and video content of BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman from social media platforms.  Justice Md. Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Khairul Alam passed the order.  However, the courtroom witnessed a chaotic scene as pro-BNP lawyers were loudly protesting the order.   At one point, Justice Md. Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Khairul Alam left the courtroom amid the cacophony. Pro-BNP lawyers were shouting “shame, shame” while the justices were leaving the courtroom. BNP’s denial of state role and Tarique’s involvement in Aug 21 grenade attack wanes its credibility, political analysts say As of 2 pm, the justices did not return to the courtroom.  Barrister Kaiser Kamal, Law Affairs Secretary of BNP, said that a no confidence appeal against the bench had been submitted to the Chief Justice. The origin of this case traces back to 2015 when Nasreen Siddiqui Lina, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, filed a petition seeking a ban on Tarique Rahman’s videos on social media. No doubt Khaleda, Tarique and their men were completely involved in Aug 21 grenade attack: PM Hasina On January 7, 2015, during the hearing of the writ petition, a bench headed by  Justice Qazi Reza-ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Saifur Rahman issued an interim order alongside a ruling. The order inquired why instruction will not be given for prohibiting the publishing of Tariq Rahman's speeches. Multiple government officials and media figures, including the Information Secretary, Home Secretary, Law Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Director General of BTV, Chairman of BTRC, Chief News Editor of Ekushey TV, Editor of Kaler Kontho, and Tarique Rahman himself were made respondents. Zia was behind August 15 killings, Tarique behind August 21: Hasan Mahmud After an interval of eight and a half years, Kamrul Islam, a lawyer representing the writ petition, sought a hearing on August 2.  On August 8, as the case was being heard, a confrontation erupted between pro-AL and pro-BNP lawyers.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday stressed the need for expediting the implementation of the trial court’s verdict in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case. “Our leaders and activists, including Ivy Rahman, were brutally killed in broad daylight on August 21. The trial has been held. Its (trial court) judgment has been handed out. This verdict should be implemented soon,” she said. The premier was addressing a discussion arranged by Bangladesh Awami League (AL) at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Avenue, marking 19th anniversary of the August 21 grenade attack. The grenade attack was carried out on an anti-terrorism rally organised by the then opposition AL on August 21, 2004 in front of its central office on Bangabandhu Avenue. The gruesome attack left 24 people killed and nearly 1,000 injured. AL president and then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina luckily survived, but her hearing was impaired by the repeated grenade blasts. Among the dead was Awami League’s women affairs secretary and late president Zillur Rahman’s wife, Ivy Rahman. A Dhaka court had already convicted and sentenced 49 people, including 19 to death and 19 to life imprisonment. Eleven were sentenced to different prison terms. Read: 19th anniversary of Aug 21 grenade attack today Eighteen of the convicted, including BNP leader Tarique Rahman, remain fugitives. Appeals against the judgment are now being heard in the High Court. Sheikh Hasina, while presiding over today’s discussion, said some of those convicted in the grenade attack case are now in jail but the main mastermind remains outside the country. Without mentioning Tarique Rahman, she said that he went abroad signing a bond. “If he has courage, why doesn’t he come back? We’ve transformed the country into Digital Bangladesh. He is now talking big, taking its advantages… He should come back, if he has courage. People of Bangladesh will not spare that killer,” she said. Recalling the grisly grenade attack, the premier said Khaleda Zia was the prime minister at the time, and the question remains what role she played at that time. Read: It was a state-sponsored conspiracy to kill Hasina: Witness and injured Nazib recalls horror of Aug 21 carnage She questioned why Khaleda obstructed police (from taking appropriate measures) and didn’t take any initiative to protect evidence of the attack. “What does it prove? There is no doubt that Khaleda, Tarique and their men were completely involved in the grenade attack. It was also revealed in the investigation,” said the AL president.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday (July 19, 2023) said the government is trying to bring back the money siphoned off by BNP leaders to different countries. “The money of many BNP leaders remains frozen (in foreign banks). We’ve been trying to bring these back gradually,” she said. Hasina, also president of Bangladesh Awami League (AL), was addressing a meeting of the AL-led 14-party alliance held at her official residence Ganabhaban in the evening. Also read: Denmark keen to invest in offshore wind energy in Bangladesh: Envoy Criticising the family of BNP leader Khaleda Zia for ‘their corruption’, she said the World Bank stopped financing during the BNP regime due to corruption in the road sector. The PM said the corruption committed by Khaleda Zia’s two sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko got revealed even before the foreigners and an FBI agent testified against Tarique in a money laundering case. She said the government was able to return Tk 40 crore from the amount of money they (Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko) laundered to foreign countries. “But the problem is that bringing back the money from the countries where they deposited is a difficult matter. The countries don’t want to release the money,” she added. Also read: Need to transform education system to build Smart Bangladesh: PM Hasina tells educators Focusing on her government’s success, the prime minister said Bangladesh has significantly advanced in every sector since 2009 during the regime of her government. “We can at least claim that Bangladesh has changed a lot in the last 14 and a half years. You can definitely realize it as well,” she said. Hasina said her government has successfully brought the poverty rate down to 18.6 percent now from 41 percent in 2006, while the extreme poverty rate to 5.7 percent from 25.1 percent. She said the government has been able to boost the production of foods including crops, fish, meat and vegetable, as well as provided free semi-pucca houses to 600,000 landless families and reached electricity facility to every house by raising power generation capacity significantly. Also read: Govt is always with you: PM Hasina tells businesspeople “We’ve achieved the electricity generation capacity to 25,000 megawatts within the 14 and a half years,” she said. The PM said there is no shortage of rice and other crops in Bangladesh. Noting that the government is setting up 100 special economic zones to generate employment, the PM said the unemployment rate came down to only 3 percent in the country. Also read: US visa policy to supplement govt commitment to hold free election: Uzra Zeya tells PM She said the government continues its steps to create entrepreneurs by providing different stimulus packages and training to the youth to bring down the unemployment rate further. “We’ve taken and implemented massive works not only for the infrastructural development of Bangladesh but also for its socio-economic upliftment,” she said. PM Hasina said Bangladesh today is considered as a role model for development throughout the world. Also read: Staying away from corruption can make possible the impossible: PM Hasina tells govt officials

A Dhaka court on Wednesday deferred till April 9 the hearing on charge framing against BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for acquiring wealth beyond their known sources of income and concealing information in their affidavits. Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special judge Md Asaduzzaman fixed the fresh date. Earlier, on November 01, 2022, Dhaka court issued arrest warrants for Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr Zubaida in the graft case. On June 26, the High court ordered the judicial court to dispose of the case as soon as possible. The HC also rejected the couple’s writ petitions, challenging the corruption case against them. As both of them remain fugitives, the court rejected the writ petitions – saying these are not acceptable. Read more: Arrest warrants issued for Tarique and Zubaida Rahman in corruption case The court also withdrew the stay order on the trial proceedings of the case filed against them. On September 26, 2007, ACC lodged a complaint with Kafrul police against Tarique Rahman, Zubaida and her mother Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 4.81 crore and concealing the information. In the same year, the High Court issued a rule suspending the trial proceedings in the case after hearing a petition filed by Zubaida. The HC rejected the rule in 2017 and asked her to surrender before the court within eight weeks.

Amidst several recent media reports quoting Transparency International Bangladesh’s Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman as saying that keeping Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman – sentenced by the court – in BNP’s top leadership “contradicts” the party’s 27-point outline for state reform, which includes stance against corruption, and is a sign of “moral decay”, BNP’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has lashed out at Somoy TV for “running a story” on the issue. Featuring the BNP leader’s statement, Somoy TV today again relayed the earlier story — defending its position and justification behind the report which also included references to the testimony of a US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent in a money-laundering case against Tarique Rahman. “That report on our leaders — Tarique Rahman and Begum Zia — is like back-stabbing our democratic movement against the government. As we continue our movement to restore democracy, they should abstain from airing such reports,” Fakhrul said about Somoy TV at a press conference. While coming down hard on the TV channel, Fakhrul also admitted that “the channel is a mainstream news outlet and is accepted by people of the country as credible.”  Though the BNP leader claimed that no other news outlet except Somoy TV carried such report, a number of media houses, including Shomoyer Alo, UNB and Desh TV, featured the TIB executive director’s remarks on the party. This development comes after a Somoy TV journalist filed a complaint against BNP activists for “assaulting” him when he was covering the party’s rally held in Nayapaltan, Dhaka on January 16, 2023. Read more: Media being regulated with various laws: Fakhrul The Somoy TV report that has seemingly drawn the ire of the BNP leader highlights that both Tarique Rahman and Khaleda Zia were sentenced by courts. A Dhaka court recently asked the police to confiscate all assets of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman. The report also makes reference to the law on whether those convicted of corruption can participate in elections. It also features the TIB executive director observing that BNP is talking about taking a bold position against corruption and at the same time running the party with convicts in top leadership. The report mostly dwells on the fate of the party under the circumstances. Referring to BNP’s 27 points, the TIB executive director had earlier wondered whether the party had the capacity to implement them. “Considering BNP’s history and its experience with people of the country, it can be said that political parties make manifestos. When they come to power, the picture is different, however. In that sense, this is a wish list. Although, many of the issues mentioned are important for Bangladesh,” he said. In November, 2011, an FBI agent testified in the Tk 20.41 crore money-laundering case filed against BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman and his business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun. This was the first time that a US FBI agent testified before a court in Bangladesh. Debra Laprevotte, a supervisory special agent of the FBI, narrated before a Dhaka court how she had tracked down the money allegedly laundered by Tarique Rahman and Mamun to a bank account in Singapore. Khaleda Zia was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by a special court in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. She was convicted in a second corruption case later. Read more: Mirza Fakhrul isn't the type to balk at reporters' questions. Except this one. Amid the pandemic, the government suspended her jail term for six months through an executive order on March 25, 2020. The government extended her conditional release in the two corruption cases several times.

Bangladesh Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has said that government has no connection with arrest warrants issued for BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr. Zubaida Rahman. “Blaming the government for anything and everything is a regular practice and culture of BNP. The court issued arrest warrants for Tarique and Zubaida in a corruption case filed by the ACC.  This is a legal process; the government didn’t interfere,” he said, He came up with the remarks at a press briefing at Setu Bhaban in Dhaka on Wednesday, a day after BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that the arrest warrants were issued as part of the government’s “political vengeance”. Read: Arrest warrants issued for Tarique and Zubaida Rahman in corruption case Speaking at a press conference at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office, he also said the government has been using “false” cases as a political weapon to suppress the opposition, and creating a ground for depoliticization in the country. Quader said that the ACC is also filing cases against many from the ruling party and investigation is on against some of them, as the ACC is playing an independent role in this regard. In response to the BNP secretary general’s statement that the government is “nervous” about the Zia family, Quader said that everyone knows the history of misrule and corruption of Zia family. Read: Graft case against Tarique, Zubaida: HC asks trial court to dispose of case soon “A BNP leader is now in exile for corruption, looting and misdeeds. He doesn’t have the courage to come back to the country,” Quader said. Bangladesh Awami League does not believe in politics of revenge but BNP is the originator of the trend, he said, and cited August 15 massacre and grenade attack as examples.

Md Mokbul Hossain, who was sent on early retirement yesterday from the post of Secretary to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, today said that he has never met BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman. “I have never compromised my morality and I’m not prepared for this situation,” he said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat today. He came up with the remarks a day after he was sent on early retirement. A gazette notification was issued yesterday in this regard. Replying to a question regarding his visit to London, earlier this year, Mokbul said, “We went there (London) in March as a team. Why are you raising this question now? Ashiqunnabi was in charge of press duties and if you (journalists) ask him, it would be clear.” He also said, “If it is proven that I was in contact with BNP, please put me on the dock. It is impossible for a person who holds Bangabandhu’s ideals close to his heart, to have any connection with BNP.” “I have no idea why I have been sent on early retirement but the government has the right to do it.” Mokbul further said, “As a journalist you can investigate it. I have no involvement with any anti-government activities and if there is any, you (journalists) can publish it. I have no objections.” Asked whether he has developed any distance with the information minister, Mokbul said that there will be a lot of talk and it will be better to not rely on those words alone. “We worked together and I respect him,” he said. ‘NO IDEA ABOUT THIS, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION MINISTRY CAN EXPLAIN’ Meanwhile, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said, “I have seen the gazette notification yesterday but I have no idea about it. Public Administration Ministry can explain this.” Hasan was talking to reporters after a views-exchange meeting with television artists, directors and producers at his office. “Such incidents have occurred before and the government can send any secretary on compulsory retirement and the Public Administration Ministry can explain it properly,” Hasan said. According to the notification issued on Sunday, Mokbul has been sent on retirement from government service in the “public interest in accordance with Section 45 of the Government Employment Act, 2018”. Mokbul joined as the secretary of the Information Ministry on May 31, 2021. Before joining as the Secretary to the Information Ministry, he was a registrar at the Directorate of Joint Capital Companies and Firms. He also served as additional secretary of the Jute and Textile Ministry. He joined Bangladesh Civil Service as a 10th batch officer of the BCS (Administration) cadre in 1991.

Coming down heavily on BNP, PM Sheikh Hasina has said they raise questions about the election and human rights, but during their regimes, human rights were violated at every step. The premier was addressing a civic reception on Saturday, accorded to her by the Bangladeshi community in New York, US. “They (BNP) are champions in vote-rigging. Starting from incorporating 1.23 crore fake voters, there’s no misdeed they haven’t committed,” she said. Read: Give fitting response to propaganda against us: PM to expat Bangladeshis The PM said Awami League believes in people’s rights and protects those rights. “Awami League ensured the voting rights of people in this country,” she said, adding that AL gave back voting rights to people, which once remained confined in the cantonment. Social development happened in Bangladesh thanks to the continuation of the democratic system since 2009, she said. Read:PM: Returning from UNGA with friendship for Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina said BNP tried time and again to disrupt the democratic system by unleashing arson attacks and killings, and imposing blockades. Blasting Zia’s family, PM Hasina said Khaleda Zia was convicted in a graft case for misappropriating funds for orphans while his son Tarique Rahman for money laundering and 10-truck arms haul case. She said Bangladesh government had also brought back the money that was illegally siphoned off by Zia’s other son, the late Koko. Read UN experts seek more help for human rights defenders in push for accountability in Myanmar She said her government has been working for the welfare of Bangladeshi expatriates after giving a brief description of the efforts. Praising the expatriates, Sheikh Hasina said they always stand by Bangladesh during its times of need.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said the name of Tarique Rahman, a convicted fugitive leader of BNP, will come on top in any list of money launderers of Bangladesh. Quader’s rebuff came in response to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s demand that the government publishes a list of those who siphoned off money from the country. Quader, who is also road transport and bridges minister, was addressing virtually the triennial council of Meherpur district unit of Awami League. Also read: Khaleda will be PM if BNP returns to power: Mosharraf The AL general secretary also urged BNP secretary general to provide proofs and evidences before raising any allegations. About fugitive businessman PK Halder who was detained in India, Quader said Halder has no relation with the ruling party. He is rather identified as a money launderer. Halder's trial will be held as per law, he mentioned, he said. Quader called upon the party leaders and workers to make it well-organized and smarter as part of preparations for the next parliamentary elections under the leadership of party president Sheikh Hasina. Saying 'those who have involvement with extortion, drug peddling, smuggling and terrorism will have no room in AL, Quader urged the local leaders to evaluate good and dedicated politicians in forming new committees. Also read: Publish the list of Money launderers, BNP asks govt Meherpur district AL President and State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain chaired the council while AL Joint General Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Organizing Secretary BM Mozammel Haque, Central Working Committee Members Amirul Islam Milon, Advocate Gloria Sarker Jharna and Parvin Jaman Kalpana and Meherpur district AL General Secretary MA Khaleque were present.