Arafat doubts Tarique’s expertise in governance, questions income source

Mohammad Ali Arafat, the former State Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the ousted Awami League government, has launched a scathing attack on BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, questioning both his administrative competence and the mysterious sources of his income during his 17-year stay in London.

In a strongly worded X post on Friday, Arafat reminded the public that Tarique Rahman was convicted in several high-profile criminal cases, including the grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004, which killed 24 people and injured over 500. Those cases, Arafat stressed, were lodged by the 2007–2008 military-backed caretaker government, not by Sheikh Hasina’s administration.

“These convictions have now been overturned as a result of a deal between Yunus and Tarique,” Arafat alleged, adding that “no one knows what he has been doing in the UK for the past 15 years. Does he have a job? How does he support his luxurious lifestyle?”

Tarique Rahman left Bangladesh in September 2008 after securing bail in multiple corruption cases filed during the caretaker regime. In the years that followed, he was sentenced in absentia in several of those cases, including the August 21 grenade attack and money-laundering charges. Since 2008, he has lived in London, directing BNP activities through digital platforms and video calls.

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Critics have long accused him of running a “parallel government” from London, allegedly selling party posts, parliamentary nominations, and even mayor and upazila chairman tickets for millions of taka. Multiple senior BNP leaders have privately acknowledged that nomination trading became the primary source of income for the party’s top leadership during its years in opposition.

The controversy has intensified since August 2024, when the Yunus-led interim government began systematically withdrawing or suspending dozens of cases against Tarique Rahman and other top BNP leaders. Several convictions have already been overturned by the High Court, and appeals in others have been fast-tracked. At the same time, the authorities have released hundreds of convicted militants, including top operatives of banned outfits such as Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansarullah Bangla Team, citing “humanitarian grounds” or “lack of evidence.”

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Rights groups and victims’ families have accused the interim government of selective justice and abuse of power, pointing out that while cases against opposition figures are being dropped en masse, thousands of Awami League leaders and activists remain in jail or face fresh charges related to the July–August 2024 mass uprising.

The regime has also faced severe criticism for its near-total impunity granted to perpetrators of mob violence during and after the student-led revolution that toppled Sheikh Hasina. Attacks on minorities, arson on Awami League offices, and lynching of party workers that claimed hundreds of lives have seen almost no investigation or prosecution.

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Political analysts say Arafat’s outburst reflects growing unease even among some former Awami League stalwarts about what they perceive as a tacit power-sharing understanding between Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and the BNP–Jamaat alliance. The rapid rehabilitation of Tarique Rahman, a man with no prior experience of holding any public office or running any ministry, has fuelled speculation that he is being groomed for a top position in the next elected government.

“Tarique Rahman has zero experience in governance, only a long record of corruption and political violence,” Arafat wrote. “The people of Bangladesh deserve better than leaders who rule from London hotel suites and live off nomination trading.”

Neither the BNP nor the interim government’s press wing has officially responded to Arafat’s allegations.