Tarique Rahman stresses reconciliation over revenge after 16 years of ‘authoritarian rule’
He said Bangladesh ‘lived beneath a darkened sky’ for 16 years as fear replaced basic freedoms.
BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman today (10 December) said that his party is committed to accountability, reconciliation and democratic rights -- not revenge -- despite facing the most repression over the last 16 years.
In a message posted on his verified Facebook page on Human Rights Day, he also said his party envisions a future Bangladesh to be built on unity, dignity and democratic freedoms with human rights upheld.
"BNP has suffered deeply, yet emerged stronger, guided by the belief that truth, justice, accountability, reconciliation and a shared commitment to the rule of law can build a Bangladesh that honours every voice and every life, a nation where human rights are defended as essential to our collective future," Tarique wrote.
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He said Bangladesh "lived beneath a darkened sky" for 16 years as fear replaced basic freedoms.
"Some felt it sharply, others carried the weight quietly. But for many, especially those whose politics diverged from the deposed regime's ruling line, the darkness was a lived reality: midnight knocks, fabricated cases, brutality endured, terror seeping into daily culture, and families waiting by doors that never opened again," her said.
Tarique said no political organisation bore this burden more than BNP. "Across extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, custodial deaths, and false charges, BNP leaders, activists and supporters formed the largest share of the wounded and missing. And in the 2024 mass uprising, it was again BNP's ranks that suffered the highest number of deaths and injuries."
He stressed that the pain extended far beyond a single political group, affecting students, journalists, writers and ordinary citizens who lost the everyday essentials of dignity, safety and freedom of expression that "today's Human Rights Day asks us to protect."
In those years, the BNP leader mentioned that he was stripped of the most basic right of voicing his opinion as he was silenced by an order prohibiting newspapers, electronic media and social media in the country from publishing or airing his words since 2015.
"Yet even from enforced silence, I kept fighting for the rights and democracy denied to millions, proving that a spirit committed to justice cannot be muted by decree," he said.
He also highlighted the suffering endured by his mother and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, whom he described as a national symbol of resilience through imprisonment, political cases and attempts to erase her legacy.
"Yet she remained steadfast in the principles she had upheld throughout Bangladesh's democratic journey. She has always championed that rights belong to every citizen, and that a nation cannot thrive when fear shapes its public life. Her resilience was never hers alone; it reflected the resilience of countless ordinary people," the BNP leader said.
Sharing personal accounts, Tarique said his own mother endured the pain of seeing her son tortured in custody, while his family also suffered the loss of his brother.
Yet, he said, this "pain does not always produce bitterness," but instead strengthens the resolve to build a fairer future.
"Our Deshnetri, my mother, exemplifies this more than anyone I know. It can shape people into guardians of a better future, and into people who understand that a nation cannot be rebuilt by repeating the injustices it survived. What Bangladesh needs now is larger than politics. We envision a united country where human rights are guaranteed, where plurality of opinions is welcomed, where opposition is a healthy part of democracy rather than a threat, and where no one is erased for their beliefs," Tarique said.
He said BNP stands strong, choosing resolution over retribution and it rejects the politics of vengeance and affirms that no Bangladeshi, whether ally or opposition, should ever again fear the institutions created to protect their rights.
Calling for a rights-based future, he urged Bangladeshis to remember the stories of Abrar Fahad, Mushtaq Ahmed, Ilias Ali, Sajedul Islam Sumon, Sagar-Runi and many more, so that injustices are not repeated.
