Tarique Rahman is widely perceived as the heir apparent to BNP, one of the two major political parties in Bangladesh.
It is also believed that in 2008 he had left the country on a negotiated parole after several corruption cases were filed against him by the then military-backed caretaker government.
Under the terms of the negotiation he apparently gave an undertaking that he was retiring from politics in Bangladesh.
To that end, Begum Khaleda Zia had also publicly announced that Tarique Rahman would be away from politics until he fully recovers from his illness, which was likely to take about three years.
Right on cue Mr Rahman appears to have recovered and has recently made headlines after a long medical leave or exile, whichever way you look at his hiatus.
His personal appearance at a political gathering in London was followed by a Bangladesh court directing the issuance of an alert to Interpol to bring him back to Bangladesh as a fugitive.
In the meantime the BNP has stated that it wishes the government to provide a congenial atmosphere so that Tarique Rahman may return to Bangladesh presumably demanding that he not be taken into prison upon return.
Yet a brief look at our history will demonstrate that prison is exactly the place than can, more often than not, turn a mere politician into a true leader.
Bangabandhu spent many years behind bars. In fact it was the incarceration of Sheikh Mujib in the Agartala Conspiracy Case in 1968 that turned him into Bangabandhu.
The regime of Ayub Khan had hoped that the case would discredit Sheikh Mujib as a political leader.
On the contrary, when the Ayub regime was eventually forced to release him the All Parties Student Action Committee, at a mammoth rally at the Racecourse on February 23, 1969, bestowed upon him the title of Bangabandhu in recognition of his courage and determination to fight for the rights of the people.
Again on the night of March 25, 1971 Bangabandhu did not try to run from the law despite being fully aware that the Pakistani army would be arresting him.
As a result, after the end of the Liberation War of 1971 when Bangabandhu was released from prison by the Pakistani regime he returned to an independent Bangladesh as the Father of the Nation.
Our history also gives us examples of the four national leaders – Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, AHM Quamruzzaman, and Captain Mansur Ali – who were victims of the jail killings of November 3, 1975 because they refused to compromise with the usurpers of power of August 15, 1975.
History will remember them as valiant leaders who refused to compromise their principles even in the face of death.
More recently, in 2008, when the military-backed government tried to force Sheikh Hasina into exile and eliminate her from the political scene of Bangladesh she defied them and returned to Bangladesh to what the Economist termed as a “rock star’s welcome.”
This single act won her the respect of the people who viewed her as the true daughter of Bangabandhu. Her determination to restore democracy was rewarded when the people voted for her to be the Prime Minister with a massive majority in the Parliament.
Even autocratic dictators gain sympathy when they are imprisoned. When Hussain Muhammad Ershad was put in jail after nine years of ruling over the country, he still managed to win all the five Parliamentary seats that he contested from, in 1991 and 1996. He then returned to Parliament and active politics.
Given all these examples, can Tarique Rahman rise to the occasion and boldly fight his battles in court instead of being a fugitive?
Other BNP leaders appear to have confidence in the Bangladesh courts and have recently managed to obtain bail and other relief from the courts when they have been implicated in cases that appear to be politically motivated.
The BNP must surely realise that the return of Tarique Rahman to Bangladesh is likely to galvanise the wilting morale of the party workers more than any number of hartals can.
The question is will Mr Rahman fight to clear his name or will he be seen as a corrupt politician who ran away when the times got bad?
Only time will tell and history will judge.
