Dhaka, Dec. 25 -- Tarique Rahman's return to Bangladesh after nearly one and a half decades in exile should be seen not as a personal or party achievement, but as a significant milestone in the country's continued democratic struggle, said Hasnat Abdullah, chief coordinator (Southern) of the National Citizen Party (NCP), on Thursday.

In a post on his verified Facebook account in the evening, Hasnat said Tarique homecoming demonstrates that a Bangladeshi citizen and political leader's right to return to his own soil cannot be permanently denied through state repression.

"No matter how powerful an autocratic system may appear, it can never permanently suppress the political will of the people," he wrote.

Referring to the state persecutio...