Tarique, aides avoid journos in London
Former prime minister Khaleda Zia's elder son Tarique Rahman, now out on bail, reached London for treatment yesterday afternoon.
He left the country Thursday night quitting politics, in his mother's words, for the time being. The departure marked the end of his stint as the senior joint secretary general of BNP.
The Emirates flight carrying him and his family touched down at Gatwick Airport at 7:15am local time. After about an hour in the airport, he was taken to a rented house in Enfield of North London.
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 were accompanying him.
During the stopover in Dubai, Tarique had an injection to relieve the backache that had dogged him throughout his 18-month detention on graft charges.
He was expected to be admitted to a London hospital last night or Monday.
BNP's UK chapter chief Kamar Uddin and some 100 leaders and workers gathered at Gatwick to welcome Tarique and his family.
Besides, a large number of journalists had been waiting at the airport, but failed to get up close to Tarique, Syed Nahas Pasha, editor-in-chief of London-based Bangla weekly Janamat, told The Daily Star over phone.
He added that BNP leaders there were staying mum about precise location of the house where Tarique is staying.
“He was exhausted by the long journey from Dhaka to London,” Pasha quoted UK BNP's General Secretary Abdul Malek as saying.
The BNP leaders have talked to three to four private hospitals in London for Tarique's treatment.
“They have told me that local consultants will check Tarique today, and on assessment of his health condition they will decide on a hospital he should be taken to,” the Janamat editor said.
He might be hospitalised sometime after the weekend, he said quoting a top BNP leader in the UK capital.
Sources close to Tarique's family in Dhaka said he might be admitted to Hammersmith or King's Oak Hospital.
Tarique was freed on September 3 after securing bail from the High Court in all 13 cases filed on corruption and extortion charges. His mother who too stands accused of graft was freed on bail the day he left Dhaka.
The BNP chief gave his son a tearful send-off at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital where he had been under treatment after release.
He was to fly out Wednesday night, but the departure was rescheduled as his mother had wanted to bid him goodbye, said family sources.
He was detained on March 7 last year as part of the present military-backed administration's clampdown on graft suspects.
His mother and younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko were arrested on September 3 the same year.
Koko, who was released on July 17 also on health grounds, is receiving treatment from Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok for respiratory complications.
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