Acting Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Tarique Rahman, expressed his appreciation on Sunday at the return of political cartoons to mainstream media after a fifteen-year hiatus.

Sportingly sharing a cartoon featuring himself in his facebook page, Tarique said he was "deeply gratified" to see that the "freedom to draw political cartoons" has been reinstated in Bangladesh.

He said, before 2006, Bangladeshi cartoonists, especially Shishir Bhattacharjee, often created cartoons about his mother Begum Khaleda Zia and him.

“However, over the past 15 years, we have seen cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore being subjected to enforced disappearance, enduring unimaginable torture and imprisonment for his work,” he said.

Tarique also pointed out that many others have “faced similar repression.”

“Shishir Bhattacharjee eventually stopped creating cartoons altogether. I am a fan of cartoonist Mehedi, and I used to enjoy Shishir Bhattacharjee's work as well,” said Tarique, “I sincerely hope that he will soon start creating political cartoons regularly once again.”

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