United News of Bangladesh

After 17 years in exile, Acting Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Tarique Rahman is poised to return home on Thursday morning, a moment the party describes as both politically significant and emotionally charged. BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed disclosed a detailed timeline at a press conference held at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office on Wednesday. According to the plan, Tarique Rahman will depart London’s Heathrow Airport on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight, accompanied by his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and daughter Zaima Rahman and their beloved pet cat Jebu. Party sources said senior journalist Saleh Shibly and three personal aides will also travel with him. Arrival & Programmes “Our leader will leave London on a regular Bangladesh Airlines flight from Heathrow Airport around midnight (Bangladesh time). After a transit stop in Sylhet, he will arrive in Dhaka at 11:50am tomorrow (Thursday) morning, Insha’Allah,” said Salahuddin. He said BNP Standing Committee members will receive the party’s Acting Chairman at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. From the airport, the BNP leader said, Tarique will proceed directly to join a reception programme as their party has arranged on the 36 July Expressway (300 Feet Road). “It will be a short programme. He (Tarique) will speak there thanking the people of the country, expressing his gratitude, and offering gratefulness to the Almighty Allah,” he said. To minimise public inconvenience and traffic congestion in Dhaka, Salahuddin said Tarique alone will speak at the reception. After the programme, he said the BNP Acting Chairman will visit his mother and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is currently undergoing treatment in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of Evercare Hospital, Bashundhara. After spending some time beside Khaleda, Tarique will proceed to House No-196 on Gulshan Avenue, where he will stay. On Friday, following the Jumma prayers, Tarique Rahman will visit the grave of his father and BNP founder and former president Ziaur Rahman.  He is also later scheduled to pay tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War at the National Memorial in Savar. Read more: Sense of insecurity gripped nation ahead of Tarique’s homecoming: Abbas On Saturday, Tarique Rahman will be formally registered as a voter. After completing the process, he will visit the grave of Osman Hadi near the Dhaka University Central Mosque. He will later go to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR), popularly known as Pangu Hospital, to meet those injured in the July 2024 uprising. Advance Apology Salahuddin, on behalf of BNP, sincerely apologised in advance for any inconvenience or suffering caused by the unavoidable and minimal programmes taken by the party to organise the historic homecoming of its beloved leader. “You know that Mr Tarique Rahman does not support any programme that may cause public inconvenience. He has already asked expatriate leaders, activists, and supporters not to gather at London’s Heathrow Airport on the day of his departure from there” he said. In Bangladesh too, the BNP leader said that although they sincerely tried to follow his instructions to avoid causing public suffering, it may not have been possible to fully comply.  “So, we express our advance apology and regret for any public inconvenience.” Salahuddin said Tarique has chosen a government holiday for his return to avoid public inconvenience. He said the programme at the 300 Feet Road is neither a public rally nor a reception. “It is only meant for him to express sincere gratitude to the people of the country and to request prayers for the well-being of the party chairperson and everyone in the country. There will be no second speaker at the event besides him.” The BNP leader said no matter how much they try to keep the event small, they do not have the ability to control the large flow of leaders, activists and supporters who has been waiting for 17 years and are coming to the capital from all parts of the country. “Still, we have instructed our supporters to mostly use the Kanchan Bridge to reach the venue.” He also outlined arrangements in the capital, including reception points at different locations, designated parking areas for vehicles, medical camps and field hospitals. Security Arrangements BNP Chairperson’s Chief Security Officer retired Brigadier General AKM Saiful Islam said, “We will use our party’s full security system. A small part of it is the Chairperson Security Force (CSF). Beyond that, our party leaders and activists, and above all, the people of Bangladesh, are the main foundation of our security.” He said the government is providing them with maximum cooperation and has instructed its various forces and agencies to extend all kinds of support. “We have developed close coordination with them. By integrating government organisations with our party’s own strength, we hope to build the strongest possible security arrangement based on the known security needs.” No Gathering at Sylhet Airport BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said their beloved leader, Tarique Rahman, will return to the country on a Bangladesh Airlines flight, which will first land at Sylhet Airport. He instructed leaders and activists of Sylhet city and district not to gather at the airport. “No leaders or activists from Sylhet city or district should gather at the airport. No one should go there. Our leader will continue on the same flight to Dhaka. After arriving in Dhaka, he will speak to the people of the country at the programme we have arranged there,” Rizvi said. Tarique Rahman was arrested during the caretaker government in 2007 and spent around 18 months in prison. After his release in 2008, he left for the United Kingdom for advanced medical treatment. Although he has been leading the party from abroad, his return now comes as he prepares to take a more direct role in party affairs after a long 17-year absence. Read more: BNP strikes election deal with 7 more partners, reserves 8 seats

London’s Heathrow Airport is capping daily passenger numbers for the summer and telling airlines to stop selling tickets as it steps up efforts to quell travel chaos caused by soaring travel demand and staff shortages. Britain’s busiest airport said Tuesday that it’s setting a limit of 100,000 passengers that it can handle each day through Sept. 11. The restriction is likely to result in more canceled flights even after airlines already slashed thousands of flights from their summer schedules. U.K. aviation authorities demanded that airlines ensure they can operate without disruption over the summer, with carriers not punished for not using their valuable takeoff and landing slots. They were responding to chaotic airport scenes as passengers complained about long lineups at security, lost luggage and lengthy flight delays. Even with that allowance, Heathrow, which had warned a day earlier that it may ask airlines to cut flights further, said it still expected more passengers than airport ground staff could handle. “Some airlines have taken significant action, but others have not, and we believe that further action is needed now to ensure passengers have a safe and reliable journey,” Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said in an open letter to passengers. Read: Dhaka requests London for resettlement of one lakh Rohingyas Airlines are expected to operate flights over the summer with an overall daily capacity of 104,000 seats, or 4,000 more than Heathrow can handle, the airport said. Only about 1,500 of the 4,000 extra daily seats have been sold to passengers. “So we are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers,” Holland-Kaye said. British Airways, the airline with the biggest presence at Heathrow, has already cut 11% of its scheduled flights between April and October. It didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday on whether it would cancel more. Virgin Atlantic, which is also based at Heathrow, said it’s “ready to deliver its full schedule this summer” but supported the airport’s “proactive measures” to reduce disruption, as long they don’t have an outsized impact on its home carriers. Other European airports have imposed similar caps this summer. London’s Gatwick has limited daily flight numbers, while Amsterdam’s Schiphol cut its maximum daily passenger numbers by 13,500. Booming demand for summer travel after two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions have overwhelmed European airlines and airports that had laid off tens of thousands of pilots, cabin crew, check-in staff, ground crew and baggage handlers amid the depths of the pandemic. Heathrow has said it started a recruiting drive in November and expects security staffing to be back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of July. “However, there are some critical functions in the airport which are still significantly under-resourced, in particular ground handlers, who are contracted by airlines to provide check-in staff, load and unload bags and turnaround aircraft,” making it a “significant constraint” to overall capacity, Holland-Kaye said.