Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal will attend the oath-taking ceremony of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister-elect Tarique Rahman on February 17 in Dhaka, the Foreign Office announced Monday. Rahman, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), won a landslide victory in last week’s elections. The Foreign Office said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif cannot attend due to a prior overseas engagement. The statement added, "Pakistan’s participation in the ceremony reflects its support for Bangladesh’s democratic process and underscores its commitment to further strengthening bilateral relations and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries." Tarique Rahman, son of former Bangladeshi president Ziaur Rahman and former PM Khaleda Zia, returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in Britain. His BNP alliance won an overwhelming two-thirds majority in the general elections on February 13, securing 212 seats compared to 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, per the Election Commission. Following the results, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and PM Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Rahman and the BNP. President Zardari said Pakistan supports "the sovereignty and democratic aspirations of Bangladesh." PM Shehbaz said he looks forward to "working closely with the new Bangladesh leadership and strengthening the two countries’ historic, brotherly, multifaceted bilateral relations."