Tarique’s counsel, Barrister Kaisar Kamal mailed the notice by registered post to the junior Law Minister a day after sending identical legal notice to Environment and Forests Minister Hasan Mahmud.
The notice asked Quamrul Islam to apologise unconditionally to Tarique Rahman and withdraw his statement in two weeks’ time or face legal action.
According to the notice, Quamrul in his speech in different public programmes recently said Tarique Rahman was hatching conspiracy from abroad to oust the government.
The minister’s ‘derogatory’ comment was published in Daily Samakal and Daily Ittefaq on May 25 and 26 respectively, it said.
“He (Quamrul) made the remarks intentionally to defame Tarique Rahman socially and politically. The defamatory remarks about Tarique tarnished his image both at home and abroad,” the notice read.
Tarique, who has been living in London since 2008, faces at least over a dozen of criminal cases including money laundering.
On September 11 in 2008, eight days after his release from jail on bail, Tarique Rahman left for London for treatment relinquishing his party portfolio (senior joint secretary general of BNP), the day her mother, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, was freed from detention during the military-backed caretaker government.
Tarique, arrested on March 7, 2007, was freed from jail on bail on September 3, 2008.
However, in December 2009, when he had been abroad for over a year, Tarique was made party’s senior vice-chairman with a clear mandate to lead the BNP in the absence of his mother.