In a major departure from established procedures, Bangladesh’s authorities on December 23 instituted special security for BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman, who is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on December 25. This indicates that the decks are being cleared for Tarique Rahman’s arrival in Bangladesh after 18 years of exile in the UK.
Bangladesh Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus’ office issued a gazette notification on December 23 that not only categorised Tarique Rahman as a ‘very important person’ (VIP), justifying providing him with Special Security Force (SSF) cover that is due only for the prime minister and his or her closest relatives.
The same day, the Bangladesh Army top brass took a serious view of the move to appoint National Security Adviser (NSA) Khalilur Rahman as the new Home Ministry Adviser in place of Lieutenant General (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.
Senior Army officers, including Chief of Staff General Waker-uz-Zaman, objected to Khalilur Rahman’s elevation as Home Adviser. This objection stemmed from the Army’s previous unrelenting stand on Khalilur Rahman’s citizenship status, which came into question when he was appointed NSA coterminously with his post as High Representative for the Rohingya Issue.
Following his controversial move on a “humanitarian corridor” between Bangladesh and the Rakhine State in Myanmar, Khalilur Rahman stood in direct confrontation with the Army chief, who angrily dismissed the proposal as “no bloody corridor”. Since this clash, the Army top brass acted decisively to bar Khalilur Rahman’s entry into Dhaka Cantonment and refused to sit in on meetings with the NSA.
The Bangladesh government’s seven-page official gazette, accessed by Northeast News, says that the SSF, established under a 2021 law, is provided to the President, Prime Minister and Chief Adviser. The amendment to this law by the Mohammad Yunus-led interim regime will now be extended to cover a VIP, in this case, Tarique Rahman.
The SSF will not only provide proximate physical security to the BNP acting chairperson but also be responsible for his protection at his home, office and functions, including during the election campaign. The extent of the security coverage will be based on the SSF director general’s threat perception assessment by Bangladesh’s intelligence agencies.
On its part, the SSF will also independently prepare threat perception reports based on its own “preventive intelligence” gathering machinery. SSF officers who will provide physical security to Tarique Rahman will, from time to time, undergo “security vetting”.
