BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman marked the International Day of the Girl Child with a pledge to make the state a partner—“not an obstacle”—in fulfilling every girl’s potential, setting out policy priorities he said are rooted in legacy as well as intent.
“In a message posted on his verified Facebook page, Rahman called for celebrating “every girl’s right to dream, to learn, to lead, to live in dignity,” adding that empowering girls is “not just policy — it’s personal.”
He said the BNP’s vision is a Bangladesh where “every girl has the same freedom, opportunity, and safety that any parent would wish for their own child.”
Tarique Rahman linked that vision to the party’s previous record in office, crediting President Ziaur Rahman with steering the growth of the garment sector into a national engine of opportunity that drew millions of women into formal work “gaining income, respect, and independence.”
He also cited the creation of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to institutionalise progress in the lives of girls and women.
Under former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, he said, girls’ education was established as a right. Schooling was declared free up to Grade 10, while “Food for Education” and “Cash for Education” programmes kept millions of girls in school, “shifting family destinies, building stronger communities, creating a generation of empowered women.”
Tarique Rahman highlighted the Female Secondary School Assistance Project as a “pioneering” initiative that achieved gender parity in secondary education for the first time in Bangladesh’s history and reduced child marriage, later becoming “a global model for girls’ education and empowerment” replicated in other developing countries. These, he argued, showed “what’s possible when governance honours the dignity of girls and invests in their future.”
Outlining future priorities, Tarique Rahman listed six commitments: “Family Cards” in the name of women heads of households to ensure direct support; SME loans, business training and financial assistance for women entrepreneurs; stronger academic and vocational pathways for girls in both rural and urban areas; increased participation of women in politics, governance and policy; protections for dignity and freedom encompassing mobility, speech and internet access; and family and social welfare as core policy—covering health, rural empowerment and jobs with a special focus on women and girls.
“We do not speak in empty rhetoric,” Tarique Rahman wrote. “We speak from conviction, backed by legacy and intention. For every girl who dreams, we will make the state her partner, not her obstacle.”
SMS/
