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Khaleda Zia died at 6 am yesterday in Dhaka.
The last rites of former Bangladesh Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia will be performed in Dhaka today. Khaleda will be buried near the grave of her husband and former Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman in the Parliament complex.
He died on Tuesday morning at the age of 80. She was on ventilator for the last 20 days. The Bangladesh government has declared three days of national mourning on the death of Khaleda Zia.
During this period, the national flag on government buildings will remain at half mast and all official programs will be postponed. A large number of political leaders, supporters and common people are likely to attend the funeral.
From the Indian side, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar will attend the funeral. He will reach Dhaka representing the Government of India and pay tribute to Khaleda Zia.
On Tuesday, grave preparations were made for Khaleda’s burial.
Khaleda Zia was struggling with diseases
Khaleda was suffering from chest infection, liver, kidney, diabetes, arthritis and eye problems for many years. His family and party leaders have confirmed the death. She was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh twice, from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006. She was the wife of former President Ziaur Rahman.
Khaleda Zia’s political life was full of ups and downs. He was put under house arrest by the Pakistani Army during the 1971 liberation war. She was in captivity of Pakistani Army from July to December. Khaleda Zia was released after Pakistan’s defeat on 16 December 1971.
Even in his later years, his politics was surrounded by conflicts, movements and attacks. In 2015, during the mayoral election campaign in Dhaka, there was firing and stone pelting on her convoy, in which she narrowly escaped.
Khaleda’s stance was anti-India
Khaleda Zia’s stance regarding India was confrontational most of the time. She repeatedly said that the sovereignty and security of Bangladesh is paramount.
While being the Prime Minister, Khaleda Zia opposed giving passage to India through the land of Bangladesh. India wanted this route to reach its northeastern states. Khaleda Zia said that this would threaten the security of Bangladesh.
He also opposed extending the ‘India-Bangladesh Friendship Treaty’ of 1972. He said that this treaty makes Bangladesh weak. She often said that her party BNP was working to save Bangladesh from Indian dominance. At a rally in 2018, he had said that Bangladesh would not be allowed to become a ‘state of India’.
5 pictures of Khaleda Zia from the 1990s
Khaleda Zia was born on 15 August 1945 in Jalpaiguri and was the President of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
During the 1971 Liberation War, Khaleda Zia along with her children were detained by the Pakistani Army in Dhaka.
She became Prime Minister in 1991 and 2001 and came to power after the restoration of parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh.
He was sent to jail in 2018 in corruption cases and received conditional release in 2020 due to poor health.
She was suffering from heart, kidney, liver, diabetes and respiratory diseases for a long time and died at the age of 80.
Khaleda was an opponent of Sheikh Hasina
The politics of Bangladesh has revolved around two leaders, one being Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina and the other being BNP’s Khaleda Zia. Bangladesh was under military rule in the 1980s. At that time, Hasina and Khaleda used to protest together on the streets against the military rule.
Democracy returned after the departure of dictator Ershad in 1990. After Khaleda Zia won the elections in 1991, political enmity between Khaleda and Sheikh Hasina increased.
Whenever elections were held in Bangladesh after 1990, power went either to Khaleda Zia or to Sheikh Hasina. The media used to name it ‘Battle of Begums’ i.e. fight of two Begums.
Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina (left) and Khaleda Zia (right) were once friends.
Husband Rehman joined politics from army, became President
Khaleda Zia was born in 1945. She did not belong to any political family and had no connection whatsoever with politics. In 1960, she married Ziaur Rehman, a soldier. Bangladesh fought for independence in 1971. During this time Sheikh Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested.
At the same time, Ziaur Rahman read an announcement on the radio, in which he said that he was fighting on behalf of ‘Independent Bangladesh’. After the war ended, when Bangladesh was formed, Rahman returned to the army. He got a big post in the army.
Rahman also started being seen as an influential face politically. After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family in 1975, there were continuous coups in the country. Factionalism in the army increased so much that the government changed hands several times within a few months.
In this unstable environment, Ziaur Rahman gradually emerged as the most powerful military leader and in 1977 he became the President of the country. After assuming power, he formed a new political party named Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Former Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman and his wife Khaleda Zia.
Khaleda came into politics after her husband’s murder
Rahman was assassinated on 30 May 1981. He was in Chittagong when some rebel army officers mutinied and he died in the crossfire.
After the death of her husband, the BNP party started disintegrating and the party leaders convinced Khaleda to take over the leadership. Initially she was not ready, but in 1984 she took charge of the party.
In 1991, when the first truly democratic elections were held in Bangladesh, Khaleda Zia’s BNP party won and she became the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She lost power in 1996, but became Prime Minister again in 2001.
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Former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia passes away: She was under house arrest in Pakistan, sometimes survived firing; When she became Prime Minister she opposed India
Bangladesh’s first woman Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia died at 6 am on Tuesday in Dhaka. She was 80 years old and was on ventilator for the last 20 days. Read the full news…
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