Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia is no more.
The party’s standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told Prothom Alo at around 7:15 am on Tuesday that BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman had informed him, “Mother is no more.”
Earlier, BNP media cell member Atikur Rahman Rumon told Prothom Alo that Khaleda Zia passed away at approximately 6:30 am while undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in the capital. Tarique Rahman and other family members were by her side at the time.
According to standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed, Khaleda Zia’s namaz-e-janaza may be held on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital tomorrow, Wednesday.
In Bangladesh’s political history, Khaleda Zia earned the epithet of the “uncompromising leader”. Defying all medical efforts, BNP chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia has now surrendered to life’s ultimate truth.
The lives of politicians are marked by rises and falls. Lawsuits, arrests, imprisonment, persecution, and attacks by adversaries are far from uncommon. Khaleda Zia endured such ordeals at their most extreme. She bore the profound grief of losing her husband and child, along with prolonged suffering from illness.
Beyond ideological conflict in her political life, Khaleda Zia was subjected to personal vendettas, malice, humiliation, and cruelty at the hands of her opponents.
Childhood
Khaleda Zia was born on 15 August 1945 in Dinajpur (although there is disagreement in political circles regarding this date). Her father, Iskandar Majumder, hailed from Sripur village in Parshuram, Feni district. Her mother, Taiba Begum, was born at Chandanbari in Boda upazila of Panchagarh district.
Between 1991 and 2008, Khaleda Zia contested a total of 23 parliamentary constituencies and was never defeated. One biographer observed, “She travelled to every corner of the country and was capable of undertaking long, arduous journeys. In December 2008, in the 14 days preceding the national election, she travelled nearly 14,000 kilometres across the country”
Among their five children, three daughters and two sons, Khaleda Zia was the third. At birth, she was named Khaleda Khanam. Owing to her exceptional beauty, family members affectionately called her Putul (Doll), a nickname that stayed with her.
She received her primary education at St. Joseph’s Convent, later passing her matriculation from Dinajpur Government School and her intermediate (higher secondary) examinations from Surendranath College in Dinajpur.
Iskandar Majumder was a devout yet liberal-minded person, and the household fostered a culture of artistic pursuits. The eldest daughter, Khurshid Jahan Haque, practised singing, while Khaleda Khanam took lessons in dance.
Alongside an Arabic tutor, the family also employed teachers of music and dance. In her childhood, she earned acclaim for her dance performances at various functions in Dinajpur and beyond.
Her mother, Taiba Begum, was an excellent cook and taught her daughters the art of cooking. Among the three sisters, Khaleda Khanam mastered it most proficiently.
Biographical accounts note that from an early age she favoured cleanliness and neatness. She had a deep fondness for flowers, adorning her room with them after meticulously cleaning it. This love for flowers, along with her habits of cleanliness and order, remained with her throughout her later life.
Marriage
On 5 August 1960, Khaleda Khanam was married to the young and capable army officer Captain Ziaur Rahman at her ancestral home in Mudipara, Dinajpur. One biographer recounts that the matchmaker told Ziaur Rahman, “If you agree to marry her, you will not need electric lights in your home. The bride is so beautiful that her radiance will banish all darkness.” Zia laughed and consented to the marriage. From then on, she became known as Begum Khaleda Zia.
The Zia–Khaleda couple have two sons. The elder, Tarique Rahman, was born on 20 November 1965, and the younger, Arafat Rahman Koko, on 12 August 1970. Koko passed away in Malaysia on 24 January 2015 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Ziaur Rahman became president of the country in 1977 and was martyred on 30 March 1981 in a failed military coup. After only 21 years of married life, Khaleda Zia was widowed prematurely at the age of 36.
Under Khaleda Zia’s leadership, the seven-party alliance was formed in 1983 to oppose the autocratic Ershad regime. In 1986, by honouring her pledge to the nation and refusing to participate in the national election, she became widely known as the “uncompromising leader”. From 1987, she launched a one-point movement under the slogan “Ershad must go”.
Begum Khaleda Zia was moderate in her diet. She enjoyed fruit, particularly drinking papaya juice regularly. Her favourite meals were plain rice, vegetables, lentils, and fish. She ate meat but did not particularly relish it. She was an attentive listener, listening carefully to others. Biographers note that “after assuming administrative responsibility, she gradually became more prudent” (Begum Khaleda Zia: Life and Struggle, Mahfuz Ullah).
Political life
Khaleda Zia’s political journey began with the martyrdom of president Ziaur Rahman. After his death, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) became organisationally weak. Eventually, on 4 January 1982, she took up membership of the BNP, marking the formal beginning of her political career.
From the outset, while upholding party discipline and leadership, she established herself through the mass movement against the autocratic rule of HM Ershad. She did not ascend to the party’s top post immediately. Progressing through the political process, she became vice-chairperson, then acting chairperson, and in 1984 assumed the role of chairperson. Of her 43-year political career, she spent 41 years leading one of the country’s principal political parties.
Achievements
Under Khaleda Zia’s leadership, the seven-party alliance was formed in 1983 to oppose the autocratic Ershad regime. In 1986, by honouring her pledge to the nation and refusing to participate in the national election, she became widely known as the “uncompromising leader”. From 1987, she launched a one-point movement under the slogan “Ershad must go”.
After navigating the arduous ups and downs of prolonged political struggle, the BNP emerged victorious in the election of 27 February 1991 under her leadership. Many had predicted victory for the opposing camp, but these forecasts proved unfounded. After eight years of relentless, tireless, and uncompromising struggle, the BNP’s triumph rendered her leadership unquestionable.
As the country’s first female prime minister, and the second in the Muslim world after Benazir Bhutto, Khaleda Zia took the oath of office on the evening of 20 March 1991 at Bangabhaban before acting president Shahabuddin Ahmed. She served as prime minister again in 1996 and for a third term in 2001. She also led the opposition in parliament in 1996 and 2009.
Between 1991 and 2008, Khaleda Zia contested a total of 23 parliamentary constituencies and was never defeated. One biographer observed, “She travelled to every corner of the country and was capable of undertaking long, arduous journeys. In December 2008, in the 14 days preceding the national election, she travelled nearly 14,000 kilometres across the country” (ibid., Mahfuz Ullah).
Despite her many achievements, her political career was not without criticism. In particular, opponents strongly accused her of failing to curb corruption. The alleged “Hawa Bhaban” and Bangladesh’s ranking as the world’s most “corrupt country” for five consecutive years (2001–2005), according to corruption perception indices, severely tarnished the reputation of her administration.
At various stages of her life, Khaleda Zia endured prolonged periods of confinement and persecution. During the Liberation War, she was detained in a cantonment from 2 July until the final day of the war. After Ziaur Rahman’s martyrdom in 1981, she was placed under house arrest for some time at the cantonment residence.
During the period widely known as “1/11”, she was arrested on 3 September 2007 and initially confined to a house on Shaheed Mainul Road in the Dhaka Cantonment. She was later transferred to a building within the parliament complex, declared a sub-jail, where she was detained for one year and seven days.
Khaleda Zia also endured harsh imprisonment in the abandoned old jail on Kazi Alauddin Road in Old Dhaka. In 2018, the “Zia Orphanage Trust Case” was filed against her, and she was arrested and held in that isolated facility, declared a special prison. She was sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment. Her health deteriorated severely, and allegations of slow poisoning were raised. Despite repeated applications to seek advanced medical treatment abroad, permission was denied.
On humanitarian grounds, in 2020 she was allowed to remain under house arrest on condition that she refrained from political activity. Following last year’s student–public uprising, her sentence was remitted and she was released by executive order of the president.
Treatment
After her release, Khaleda Zia received medical treatment in London on 7 January this year, and her health improved considerably. However, complications from multiple ailments, combined with physical and mental strain, left her increasingly frail. Age was also against her. She frequently fell seriously ill and required hospitalisation.
On 23 November, she was admitted for the final time to Evercare Hospital in the capital. She remained under treatment there for just over a month. This time, she did not respond to medical care.
Honoured with the title “Deshnetri” (Leader of the Nation), Khaleda Zia has taken her final leave from the people of her beloved homeland.