Tarique quits party post, flies to UK

Khaleda Zia visits her ailing son Tarique Rahman at the BSMMU Hospital yesterday after being released on bail.Photo: STAR

Former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman last night flew to the United Kingdom for treatment hours after his just-freed mother's announcement that he will stay off politics until he recovers fully.
Earlier, he tendered resignation as the senior joint secretary general of BNP, party sources said.
Meanwhile, a statement made available after midnight says he has “retired from active politics with effect from September 11” [yesterday]. Authenticity of Tarique's signature in the statement however could not be verified as of filing this report at 1:00am.
Tarique left Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital at around 7:00pm for the Zia International Airport. As he was wheeled out of the hospital, cheers went up from hundreds of party leaders and workers gathered outside.
The Emirates flight carrying him took off at around 9:55pm.
Travelling with him were his wife Zubaida Rahman, daughter Zaima Rahman, sister-in-law Shahina Khan Zaman and her husband Air Commodore (retd) Syed Shafiuzzaman, and physician Dr Kazi Mazharul Islam Dolon.
Tarique will receive treatment at Hammersmith Hospital in London and the King's Oak Hospital in Middlesex, his lawyer Nasiruddin Ashim told The Daily Star.
Earlier in the day, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia said, “Doctors say it will take at least two to three years for him to pull through.”
Talking to reporters at the party headquarters at Naya Paltan, she said, “He will stay abroad and out of politics until he recovers completely.”
She also said that for the time being he will not carry out any responsibilities with regard to the party.
The BNP chief who was released on bail the same day spent over two hours by her son's bedside at the BSMMU Hospital.
In the last few days, speculations ran rife over Tarique's going abroad and his mother's release.
He was supposed to leave the country on Wednesday night, but did not get the government's nod, his lawyer Ahmed Aazam Khan told the press.
The heir apparent to Zia family, Tarique became the senior joint general secretary of BNP in 2002. During the rule of BNP-led four-party alliance, he would carry enormous clout. Hawa Bhaban, her mother's political office in Banani, was literally the alternate powerhouse run by him between 2001 and 2006.
But things took a turn for the worse for him with the army-backed caretaker government taking office on January 11 last year.
In an anti-graft purge, the joint forces arrested him on March 7, 2007 at their Shaheed Moinul Road residence in Dhaka cantonment.
Soon he was made accused in a slew of cases. After 18 months in detention on graft and extortion charges, he was released on bail on September 3.
Instead of taking him home, his family opted to keep him at the BSMMU Hospital where he had already spent months in prison cell.
Tarique obtained a UK visa for five years on September 8 and a 90-day German visa on September 10. He might be taken to Germany from the UK, family sources said.
His wife and daughter too were given five-year UK visas and his physician was granted a visa for six months.