After 17 long years, Dr Zubaida Rahman — wife of BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman and daughter-in-law of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia — has returned to Dhaka from the United Kingdom.
She arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 10:38 AM on Tuesday (May 6) aboard a special air ambulance provided by the Emir of Qatar. Also on the same flight were Khaleda Zia, who had been receiving medical treatment in London for nearly four months, and Syeda Shamila Rahman, wife of Khaleda’s younger son, Arafat Rahman Koko.
In anticipation of Zubaida’s return, preparations and decorations had been underway for several days at ‘Mahbub Bhaban’ on Road No. 5 in Dhanmondi, Dhaka — her father’s residence. She is expected to stay there, where her mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu, elder sister Shahina Zaman, and other family members currently reside. Banu was recently hospitalised in Dhaka.
Seventeen years ago, on September 11, 2008, Zubaida Rahman left the country with Tarique Rahman. On September 26 that year, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case at Kafrul Police Station in the capital against Tarique Rahman, Zubaida Rahman, and Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu, accusing them of amassing wealth beyond known sources of income. In that case, a Dhaka court sentenced Zubaida to three years in prison and fined her Tk 35 lakh.
However, on August 5 last year, following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government amid a student and public uprising, a court suspended her sentence.
Born in Sylhet, Zubaida completed her MBBS from Dhaka Medical College. In 1995, she topped the BCS Health Cadre and began her career as a government physician. In 2008, she took study leave to move to London, but was later dismissed from government service. She subsequently earned a Master’s degree in Medicine from Imperial College London.
Her father, Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan, served as Chief of Naval Staff from November 4, 1978, to August 6, 1984, and later held the posts of Minister of Communications and Minister of Agriculture under the government of Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Zubaida Rahman is also the niece of General MAG Osmani, the Commander-in-Chief of Bangladesh’s Liberation War.