Nepal, Feb. 17 -- Tarique Rahman, chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been unanimously elected leader of the parliamentary party in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad.

The election took place at a meeting of newly elected BNP MPs at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban at 12:00pm today.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir described the occasion as "historic," citing the party's return to parliament through "a fair election" after "a long fascist government's repression, destruction of democracy, and making the parliament ineffective, and after much bloodshed of the people".

"In this parliament, with a majority of seats, we have elected our young leader Mr Tarique Rahman as the leader...