The return of Tarique Rahman to Dhaka on Thursday (December 25) marked the beginning of a new chapter in the story of Bangladesh’s powerful Zia family.Son of Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia, both of whom have ruled over Bangladesh at different points of time, Tarique, 60, returned to Dhaka after a self-imposed 17-year exile. He is the de facto leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the frontrunner in the upcoming elections set to be held in February, and an overwhelming favourite to become Bangladesh’s next Prime Minister.The Zia family has been pivotal in shaping Bangladesh’s post-Liberation history. Here’s a brief history.Zia, the soldierZiaur Rahman (henceforth referred to as Zia) was born in Bogra, in what is now northern Bangladesh, in 1936. After Partition, his family moved to Karachi, where his father worked as a chemist.In 1953, 17-year-old Zia joined the Pakistani Army; he earned his stripes at the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad. Like other Bengalis, he too was discriminated against in the Punjabi-dominated Pak Army. But Zia distinguished himself as a soldier, and quickly moved up the ranks. “I never really thought about other things…,” he told political scientist Marcus Franda in an interview in 1980.In the 1965 India-Pakistan War, he received a battlefield promotion to the rank of a Major, and became the only Bengali Company Commander in the entire Pak Army. He was also awarded the Hilal-i-Jur’at, Pakistan’s second-highest gallantry award.A turning point in Zia’s life, the first of a few, came on March 26, 1971, when the Pak Army commenced a brutal reign of terror in the Bengali East. Zia, who was then posted in Chittagong, saw the writing on the wall and like many of his compatriots in the Army, decided to mutiny. On the night of March 26, he arrested and executed his commanding officer, Lt Col Abdul Rashid Janjua, and took charge of a motley group of Bengali mutineers.Story continues below this adHe betrayed his political ambitions on March 27, less than a day after the arrest of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League and fountainhead of Bengali nationalism, when he proclaimed himself as the leader of independent Bangladesh.“I, Major Ziaur Rahman, Provincial Head of the Government, do hereby declare the Independence of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,” he said on radio. He backtracked a few hours later by announcing that he had declared Independence on Mujib’s behalf. (His original announcement had not gone down well among Bengali nationalists).Over the next few months, however, Zia’s stock would rise, as he commanded Mukti Bahini’s first conventional military brigade, the Z-Force, in victory after victory against the Pak Army. By all accounts, he was a good battlefield commander and a popular one at that. “I had many thousands of men — I just didn’t know how many men I had! My battalions were very big! And I could have raised another three battalions!” Zia had told Franda.For more on India's role in 1971 War | Vijay Diwas: How India won the 1971 War in under two weeksMujib’s death, Zia’s riseAfter the Liberation War, Zia was not happy with how he was treated; as someone known to have had an exaggerated sense of self-consequence, Zia felt unrecognised for his contributions in the Liberation War.Story continues below this adIn 1972, Mujib passed Zia over for the post of Army Chief, a decision that created much discord in the nascent Bangladeshi Army. “We wanted to keep the army absolutely professional, but politics was introduced at all levels,” Zia would tell Franda. Others, however, accuse Zia of politicking — he would frequently pit officers against each other, criticise Mujib and his Army Chief, K M Shafiullah, and claim credit for all of the Army’s successes.Meanwhile, resentment against Mujib grew amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement, and a sharp authoritarian turn. Things came to a head on August 15, 1975, when a group of disgruntled officers assassinated Mujib and his entire family in Bangladesh’s first and bloodiest coup till date. (Mujib’s daughters Hasina and Rehana, who were abroad at the time, survived.)Although Zia did not personally participate in the plot, he was well aware of it. Maj Sayed Farooq-ur-Rahman, one of the main plotters, said in an interview to The Daily Star in 2009, “I told him (Zia) that… the junior officers have already worked it (the plot) out. We want your support… he said, I am sorry, would not like to get involved… the junior officers should do it themselves.”Witness statements in the subsequent investigation, which was completed only in 1998 after Hasina came to power, too reveal Zia’s political ambition. The wife of one of the plotters told the court: “One night, Major Farooq returned from Zia’s house and told my husband… [that] Zia allegedly said, “If it is a success, come to me. If it is a failure, do not involve me. It is not possible to change the government while keeping Sheikh Mujib alive”.” (as reported by Prothom Alo).Story continues below this adAlso Read | Why Sheikh Hasina’s opponents in Bangladesh are targeting the legacy of Mujibur RahmanRegardless of his involvement, Zia benefited greatly from Mujib’s death. He was appointed as Army Chief by Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, Mujib’s commerce minister who had plotted against the Bangabandhu. However, Ahmad’s rule barely lasted a few months: on November 3, a coup by Mujib loyalists toppled his regime. But less than four days later, Zia was reinstated as Army Chief with the support of a majority of Army officers and rank-and-file soldiers. Zia imposed martial rule and effectively took over the reins of the country.The Zia ‘restoration’Zia ruled Bangladesh from 1975 to 1981, first as martial law administrator (1975-77) and then as President (1977-81). Like Mujib before him, Zia continued to treat institutions as malleable and subservient to his political interests. But his reign marked a departure from Mujib’s in terms of what these interests were.Political scientist Sarah Tasnim Shehabuddin, in her essay ‘Bangladeshi Politics Since Independence’ published in the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh in 2016, writes that Zia “used constitutional amendments to legalize [his] actions, indemnify [himself] from prosecution, and emphasize [his] Islamic credentials to gain domestic and international support.”He inserted the salutation “Bismillahir-Rahmaanir-Rahim” (“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful”) in the preamble of Bangladesh’s Constitution, and added the statement “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah” in Article 8, replacing the Mujib-era socialist commitment to secularism.Story continues below this adHe also adopted a gamut of neoliberal policies, including the sale of various state-owned enterprises, which political scientist Peter J Bertocci argues were “valuable tools for rewarding and gaining supporters”. (‘Bangladesh in the Early 1980s: Praetorian Politics in an Intermediate Regime’, Asian Survey, 1982). His economic policies reversed the Mujib-era push toward nationalisation and state control.From the same author | Explained: Why Bangladesh is rewriting textbooks on 1971 Liberation WarFranda wrote that “At the core of Zia’s political and economic philosophy is a military man’s belief in organisational discipline and an almost naive faith in the powers of positive thinking and hard work”. (‘Ziaur Rahman and Bangladeshi Nationalism’, EPW, 1981).Zia had established the BNP in 1978, as a part of his efforts to “civilianise” his rule. Under his leadership, the BNP won the 1978 and 1981 elections, although the polls’ legitimacy remains disputed.Today, Zia is positively remembered for his ambitious development initiatives, specifically in the agriculture sector. “Policies favoring incentives for food production were adopted, including the subsidizing of modern agricultural inputs and the guarantee of higher food prices to farmers… [these] helped to bring the country’s 1980 food production back to levels approaching those before 1971,” Bertocci wrote, adding, however, that “wealthier sections of the peasantry received the major benefits.”Story continues below this adHe is also remembered for the creation of a number of new village-level institutions, through which he sought to fundamentally alter — some would say fully capture — the Bangladeshi polity.However, critics accuse him of suppressing any and all opposition, rehabilitating pro-Pakistan Islamists, and downplaying Mujib’s role in the liberation struggle. Beyond a focus on developing self-reliance, Zia’s vaguely-defined conception of “Bangladeshi Nationalism” provided ample room for anti-minority sentiments.As Franda, who is otherwise overwhelmingly complimentary of Zia, wrote of his rule: “much of what passes for communal harmony… is simply a function of the minority Hindu community having been cowed down by the predominance and aggressiveness of the majority Muslim”.Enter the Queen: Khaleda’s riseIn the early hours of March 30, 1981, Ziaur Rahman was assassinated by a group of disgruntled army officers at the Chittagong Circuit House. The Zia-appointed Army Chief, Lt Gen Hussain Muhammad Ershad, now took over the reins of Bangladesh; like Zia, he initially ruled as martial law administrator (1982-86) before holding a sham election and becoming President (1986-90).Story continues below this adThe Ershad-era is instrumental in shaping Bangladesh’s modern political landscape: although he continued in the Islamist-capitalist direction set by Zia, Ershad set the stage for the entry of the two “battling Begums” of Bangladesh politics. Sheikh Hasina, Mujib’s daughter, had returned to Bangladesh and and taken over the reins of the Awami League just weeks before Zia’s assasination. And after Zia’s death, his widow, Khaleda Zia, took command of the BNP.Amb Veena Sikri writes | Bangladesh turmoil: The lengthening shadow of Jamaat-e-Islami, and what India needs to doBorn Khaleda Khanam “Putul” to a tea-trader from Feni in 1945, Khaleda took on the title of Zia after her marriage in 1960. Khaleda had admittedly been content to stay in the background and raise their two sons, Pino (Tarique) and Koko (Arafat Rahman, who died in 2015).But things changed overnight after Zia’s assasination. “When my husband was killed, I did not get involved. I did not want to,” she told Time Magazine in 2006. “But party leaders started consulting me and I had to join due to public pressure.”This was in part due to Zia’s cult of personality and ruthless purges of political rivals: there was simply no one of stature within the BNP who could take over the party’s command after his death, especially amid Ershad’s crackdown on political opponents. Political scientist Yasmeen Mohiuddin credits the rise of Khaleda and Hasina to the “South Asian tradition of dynastic politics”. (Movers & Shakers: Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, International Journal, 2008).Story continues below this adKhaleda officially assumed leadership of the BNP in 1984, and like Hasina did with the Awami League, helped galvanise support for a party that was in disarray.Through the 1980s, the two Begums, who were thrust into politics after the brutal killing of their family, led a mass struggle against the authoritarianism of the Ershad rule. Although many differences persisted, most notably regarding participation in the 1986 polls, Khaleda and Hasina would eventually join hands in the anti-Ershad movement, in what political scientist Shehabuddin says “stands out as one of the few examples of inter-party cooperation in Bangladesh”. Ershad was ousted in 1990, on the back of a months-long struggle on the streets of Dhaka (not unlike the “revolution” against Hasina in 2024). Elections would be held under a neutral caretaker government in 1991; BNP emerged as the largest party and Khaleda became Prime Minister for the first time.Khaleda’s two termsKhaleda served two full terms (1991-96, 2001-06) as Bangladesh PM, during which she upheld Zia’s legacy and continued on the path he set: advocating a role for Islam in the state, promoting private enterprise, and focussing on neoliberal development policies.“…The BNP stressed the importance of ties with the United States, China, and Arab countries, while preferring to distance itself from India,” political scientist Mohiuddin wrote. Khaleda further emphasised on the BNP’s position “as a defender of Islamic Bengal, unique from its mostly Hindu counterpart in India, West Bengal.”Her first term saw several highlights: Khaleda’s education reforms were credited to have worked wonders in Bangladesh, which had a literacy rate of only 35% when she took over; her economic reforms helped boost foreign investment; and she was hailed for furthering Zia’s village-level administrative reforms.In Express Opinion | In Bangladesh, fake promises and a false enemyHer second term, however, is most remembered for the BNP officially entering into an alliance with hardline Islamist parties, most notably, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islami Oikya Jote, and Ershad’s Jatiya Party, a former political foe. This alliance helped Khaleda capture two-third majority in Parliament, but pushed her administration even further to the right as a result.Notably, this was directly to the detriment of India (and conversely, the benefit of Pakistan). Mohiuddin wrote: “The anti-India theme has been a mainstay of BNP policy for decades, but more recently (in the 2000s) has been used to distinguish itself from the Awami League’s allegedly “soft” stance on India.”Under Khaleda, Bangladesh became a safe haven for anti-India militants and separatists, who wreaked havoc in the Northeast from bases across the border. Water-sharing also became a major diplomatic flashpoint. Meanwhile, Jamaat leaders, who in 1971 had sided with Islamabad, increasingly entered the mainstream, calling for a greater alignment with Bangladesh’s “Islamic” brother Pakistan against “Hindu” India.Notably, Khaleda too further manipulated political institutions to serve her politics, including in 2006-07, where she attempted to dismantle the interim government ahead of the elections. She would be trounced by Hasina and the Awami League in the 2008 polls.Fresh prince on the horizonThe past decade-and-a-half of Awami League rule under Sheikh Hasina saw the BNP and other Islamist parties being systematically dismantled by brute force of the state machinery. Widespread election malpractice aside, Hasina directly attacked political opponents: a number of Jamaat leaders were put on trial and executed for aiding Pakistan in 1971, and top BNP figures, including Khaleda and her son Tarique, were slapped with hefty corruption charges, among other things.When anger against Hasina boiled over in August 2024, the BNP got a fresh lease of life. But Khaleda has been struggling with ill-health since the mid-2010s; she is currently admitted to a hospital in Dhaka. After the 2024 “revolution”, which she hailed as a great moment for Bangladesh, Khaleda was never likely to return to power.Instead, as has been the tradition in Dhaka — and capitals across South Asia, including New Delhi — all eyes were on Tarique, who was in self-imposed exile in London since 2008, citing a threat to his life in Hasina-ruled Bangladesh.Tarique is not a political novice: he was active in both the 1991 and 2001 campaigns in which the BNP was successful. He was also implicated in the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack in which Hasina and 500 others were injured and 24 killed during an opposition rally. He was sentenced to life-imprisonment in 2018 for his alleged role in the attack; the conviction was, however, overturned last year after Hasina’s ouster.On Thursday, as thousands of BNP faithful thronged Dhaka’s streets to catch a glimpse of Tarique, the sexagenarian cut a statesman-like figure. “This country belongs to people of the hills and the plains, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians,” he said.Also from the same author | Why Northeast-Kolkata link via Myanmar — not Bangladesh — is significantBut amid a renewed wave of anti-minority violence unleashed during the protests of last year and under the Interim Government of Muhammad Yunus, only time will tell whether Tarique’s words are anything more than just that. Going by the history of his family’s stints ruling Bangladesh, expectations should remain tempered.