BNP believes in solution-based politics, not revenge: Tarique Rahman

On World Human Rights Day, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman has said that the BNP rejects politics of revenge and believes in resolving national crises through solutions. Referring to enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture during the Awami League regime, he said: “We promise that no Bangladeshi, whether pro-government or opposition, will ever need to live in fear of the state.”

He made these remarks in a Facebook status on Wednesday, December 10.

Tarique Rahman wrote that Bangladesh had remained under a suffocating dark cloud for 16 years. “Some felt that darkness intensely, some carried it silently. But for those politically opposed to the fallen regime, this darkness was a daily reality.”

He said families endured night-time knocks on the door, fabricated cases, torture, and forced disappearance of loved ones who never returned home. He said BNP suffered the worst among political groups with the highest number of cases, deaths in custody, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, yet the entire society was a victim, including students, journalists, writers, pedestrians and ordinary citizens, whose most basic rights were under threat.

Tarique Rahman wrote that even he was completely denied his basic right to speak for years. “Since 2015, my right to speak was entirely shut down. Newspapers, TV channels and social media platforms were instructed not to publish any of my statements. Yet I continued to speak for rights, democracy and people’s legitimate demands because truth cannot be silenced by orders.”

He added that Begum Khaleda Zia remained the biggest symbol of resilience during those dark years. “False cases, imprisonment, attempts to destroy her politically, all of this reflected authoritarian oppression across the country. Yet she never abandoned her democratic belief that rights belong to everyone and that fear cannot lead a nation forward.”

Speaking personally, he wrote: “My mother, a national leader, endured the pain of seeing her son imprisoned and tortured. We lost another son forever. Like thousands of families in Bangladesh, our family was a target.”

He added, however, that hardship had not weakened BNP. Instead, it strengthened the party’s belief in truth, justice, reconciliation, accountability and the rule of law. “We want to build a Bangladesh where every voice, every life and every right is valued, and where human rights form the foundation of our future.”