Tarique Rahman pays homage to Liberation War martyrs, Zia

BNP acting Chairman Tarique Rahman paid deep homage to the martyrs of the Liberation War and his father Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman on Friday, a day after he returned home.

He first went to Zia’s grave at Zia Udyan in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area in the afternoon and later to the National Memorial at Savar at night.

Retracing the paths of memory and legacy, Tarique Rahman paid respect to Ziaur Rahman, also founder of the BNP, at his grave after long 19 years, a poignant blend of grief, devotion, and remembrance that captured the enduring bond between a son and his father.

Accompanied by senior BNP leaders, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and members of the party’s Standing Committee, Tarique Rahman placed a floral wreath at his father’s grave and offered prayers for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s swift recovery, as well as for salvation of the departed souls of the martyrs of the 2024 mass uprising.

Stepping aside from the crowd, he stood alone for a long, silent moment before the grave, wiping away tears with a handkerchief as he offered Fateha. Later, he raised his hands in solemn prayer, visibly moved by memory and loss.

Before paying their respects, Mirza Fakhrul said, “The country’s people are happy with the return of our beloved leader, future Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, to Bangladesh. He has instilled hope among the people, and the people are energised.”

Earlier, on 1 September 2006, Tarique Rahman, then the party’s senior joint secretary general, last paid tribute to his father on the occasion of BNP’s founding anniversary.

At just 16, Tarique Rahman lost his father to assassination in 1981, and during his years in exile, he also mourned the loss of his younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko in 2015.

Along with their mother, Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman were arrested after the imposition of the emergency in 2007. After their release in 2008, Tarique Rahman went to the UK and Arafat Rahman to Malaysia.

When the acting BNP chairman returned home on Friday, almost 17 months after the Awami League was ousted in the face of a mass uprising, his mother – BNP Chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia – is ill and undergoing treatment in a hospital bed.

Tarique Rahman left his Gulshan home in a bulletproof bus in the afternoon amid tight security, crawling through a sea of party activists, who gathered to get a glimpse of their cherished leader. He waved to them standing inside the bus.

He got off the bus near Zia Udyan around 4:30pm and walked to his father’s grave, where he spent about 10 minutes. 

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police and the Army were deployed to ensure security for Tarique Rahman.

Then he proceeded to Savar where he paid tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War at the National Memorial around 10:30pm. 

He stood in solemn silence for one minute as a mark of respect for the martyrs. He also signed the visitors’ book there.  

Stringent security measures were in place at the National Memorial for Tarique Rahman. Civilian entry was banned for the time being.

Police, RAB and BGB members were deployed to ensure security at the National Memorial and along the Dhaka-Aricha Highway.

On behalf of Tarique Rahman, BNP senior leaders, however, paid homage to Liberation War martyrs at the memorial, as he missed the tradition of laying a floral wreath before sunset.

At 5:06pm, BNP Standing Committee Members Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Abdul Moyeen Khan, Chairperson’s Advisers Amanullah Aman and Lutfozzaman Babar and Dhaka district unit President Khandakar Abu Ashfaq, among others, laid a floral wreath at the altar of the memorial.

Meanwhile, the acting BNP chairman is scheduled to visit the Nirbachan Bhaban at Agargaon today to complete the process of becoming a voter. Later, he is due to visit the grave of martyred Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, spokesperson for Inqilab Moncho, on the Dhaka University campus.