Tarique Rahman
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Front Page
Kamaluddin Siddiqui, principal secretary to the then prime minister Khaleda Zia, told the then US ambassador to Bangladesh Harry K Thomas in early 2005 that Khaleda's biggest political failure was giving protection to her corrupt son, Tarique Rahman. "He (Siddiqui) described PM Zia's indulgence and protection of her "corrupt" son as her biggest political failure," said a cable leaked on August 30 by whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
During a 40-minute meeting with the principal secretary on March 13, 2005, the then US ambassador advised Siddiqui that Tarique Rahman's request via confidants for meetings with senior US government officials in Washington could not be accommodated for protocol and other reasons. Siddiqui wholeheartedly agreed, adding, "Dynastic politics are not good for a nascent democracy."
In the same meeting, Siddiqui remarked that US pressure, along with the coinciding World Bank meeting in Washington on Bangladesh, had finally convinced Khaleda Zia that for the sake of Bangladesh's international reputation she had to brush aside the protection of Rajshahi area BNP MPs and arrest the JMJB "gangsters."
He added, "That's the problem with this BNP government… It only acts under pressure, so it doesn't get the credit it deserves for doing what it should have done months ago."
Siddiqui told Harry K Thomas that continued US pressure on the Bangladesh government was essential to bring to justice the killers of Awami League leader and ex-finance minister SAMS Kibria.
The ambassador reiterated the importance of bringing Kibria's killers to justice, and noted press speculation that an insider of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) was linked to the local BNP leaders charged with the crime. Siddiqui asked rhetorically if the US envoy wanted him to name the individual who everybody knows, he said, comes from Sylhet and is a "problem." Siddiqui was referring to the then prime minister's political secretary Harris Chowdhury.
During that meeting with the US ambassador, the principal secretary also indicated that then civil aviation minister of state Mir Nasirudin wanted a bribe to decide whether state-run airlines Biman should buy Boeing or Airbus.
Siddiqui explained that he had declined to meet with a Boeing official originally scheduled to come to Dhaka next week (March 2005) because there was no need for Boeing "to preach to the converted." He stated that he supports Biman's purchase of Boeing aircraft and that he would energetically press after tomorrow's (March 14, 2005) cabinet meeting the reluctant civil aviation minister of state on the political and commercial benefits of buying Boeing. He indicated that one factor for the delayed.
