Indian High Commissioner meets Khaleda Zia's son Tariq amid Bangladesh tension, 40 minute meeting held

Dhaka (The Uttam Hindu): Amid ongoing tensions with Bangladesh, Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma on Saturday met Tarique Rahman, the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The meeting came a day after the BNP officially elected Tarique Rahman as party president ahead of the February 12 elections.

Amid tensions with Bangladesh, Indian High Commissioner meets Khaleda Zia's son Tariq; meeting lasts 40 minutes : BNP 's media cell spokesperson Sairul Kabir Khan said that the meeting lasted for about 40 minutes. He described it as a courtesy call. In the current political scenario, BNP has emerged as a major party, while its former ally Jamaat-e-Islami has now become the main rival. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League is not participating in the elections. The Awami League government fell on August 5, 2024, following violent student-led protests. After this, the interim government led by Mohammad Yunus dissolved the Awami League through an order and barred it from contesting the elections.

Tarique Rahman had been the acting president of the BNP since 2018. The party's policy-making standing committee formally elected him as party president on Friday night. He was given this responsibility ten days after the death of his mother and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Earlier, Pakistan High Commissioner Imran Haider met Tarique Rahman on Friday, hours before he was appointed BNP president. Tarique Rahman lived in self-exile in London for nearly 17 years and returned to Bangladesh on December 25.