BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, currently in Singapore with his wife for health check-ups, shared an emotional Facebook post on Thursday, expressing gratitude to her for her unwavering support and patience through nearly 50 years of married life.
On April 6, Mirza Fakhrul traveled to Singapore with his wife Rahat Ara Begum for health check-ups.
In his Facebook post on Thursday afternoon, he recalled being arrested from home in the middle of the night on December 9 in 2022, just a day before Rahat Ara’s crucial surgery.
“When my wife’s disease was diagnosed in December 2022, my world fell apart. She is the rock of our family. I decided to proceed with her surgery as soon as possible. Just the day before her surgery, I was taken from my home at 3am by the Awami police,” Fakhrul wrote.
He also mentioned that his daughter rushed from Australia to Dhaka to care for her ailing mother and stay by her side during the surgery.
“While my wife was having her surgery, I was in jail. Nobody was in the hospital except my daughters and Dr Zahid (Hussain, BNP standing committee member). Our acting chairperson and my siblings were following up over phone,” he said.
Praising Rahat Ara, Fakhrul said she handled everything with utmost patience and a smile on her face, enduring not only the years of difficult treatment but also the challenges they have faced as a family for almost 50 years.
“Alhamdulillah, today (Thursday) her doctor in Singapore said that so far, everything looks good. However, we will need to return (to Singapore) in six months,” he concluded, saying, “I am grateful for your prayers and well-wishes.”
On December 9, 2022 a team of Detective Branch (DB) of police picked up Fakhrul and party Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital, a day before the party’s much-talked about grand rally in the capital – the culmination of a months-long programme of rallies in the divisional headquarters that had each drawn massive turnouts.
Later, they were shown arrested in a case over the clash between police and the party activists in the capital's Nayapaltan, the BNP’s preferred venue , on December 7 centring preparations for the rally.
BNP, however, went ahead and arranged the rally in the absence of Fakhrul and Abbas at the Golapbagh field and placed a 10-point demand, including the resignation of the then Awami League government and holding the national polls under a non-party polls-time government.
Just after a month of their arrest, both Fakhrul and Abbas were freed from jail on bail on January 9, 2023.