PM praises Tarique's wife Zubaida

Prime Minister Sheikh has spoken highly of Zubaida Rahman – wife of BNP leader Tarique Rahman – saying she will do well as a politician. Zubaida, the daughter of former navy chief MA Khan, is a doctor by training. She also happens to be a relative of LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain. The unexpected praise came during Monday's Cabinet meeting when there was a short discussion on BNP's newly-declared standing committee, said a minister wishing anonymity. Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader and Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan noted that Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury had said that there were two empty posts in the standing committee. Zafrullah suspected that they were probably reserved for BNP chief Khaleda Zia's two daughters-in-law, according to the minister. There are 19 posts in the BNP standing committee. Seventeen of them have been filled so far. As other ministers made observations on the matter, the prime minister stepped in. “She (Zubaida) is well educated and comes from a good family. It will be good if she joins politics,” the prime minister was quoted as saying. Hasina noted that Zubaida was also a relative of Local Government Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain. Mosharraf clarified that she was the daughter of his uncle's sister-in-law. “She is my maternal cousin,” he said. Zubaida married Tarique in 1993 and joined as a BCS health cadre two years later. She left the country with her husband and daughter in 2008 for UK, where she has been living since. She was later dismissed from her job for remaining absent from workplace for too long without any official permission.