Dawn
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12:17 Feb 17, 2026
Long overshadowed by his parents and heir to one of Bangladesh’s most powerful political dynasties, the country’s new prime minister, Tarique Rahman has finally stepped into the spotlight. At 60, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) takes charge of the South Asian nation of 170 million, driven by what he calls an ambition to “do better”. A year-and-a-half after the deadly uprising that toppled previous prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s iron-fisted rule, the BNP won a “sweeping victory” in parliamentary elections on February 12. He was sworn in on Tuesday, leading a more than two-thirds majority in parliament. “This victory belongs to people who aspire to and have sacrificed for democracy,” he said in a speech. His rise marks a remarkable turnaround for a man who only returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in Britain, far from Dhaka’s political storms. Widely known as Tarique Zia, he carries a political name that has shaped every stage of his life. He was 15 when his father, Pr...