BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman has said that his mother, Khaleda Zia, devoted her entire life to serving the people. Today, he feels that responsibility and legacy deeply. With focus and a sense of duty, he is pledging that he will try to continue her work forward from where his mother’s journey came to an end.
Tarique Rahman made the remarks in a post published on his verified Facebook page at 10:00 am today, Thursday.
Former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia passed away Tuesday morning at Evercare Hospital in the capital. She was 79. Her namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers) was held Wednesday afternoon on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital. The area in and around Manik Mia Avenue was packed with people for her funeral prayers.
A spontaneous surge of mourners overflowed Manik Mia Avenue, the Parliament complex area, and spread across various roads of the capital. People stood in orderly lines on different streets of Dhaka to take part in the funeral prayers. After the funeral prayers, Khaleda Zia was laid to rest with state honours beside the grave of her husband, former president and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
Here’s the post published on Tarique Rahman’s Facebook:
Yesterday, with a heart full of sorrow and gratitude, I laid my beloved mother, my first teacher in life, three-time Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, to her final rest beside my father, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman. The weight of her absence is immeasurable, but your presence, the Bangladeshi people's, has made this profound moment feel less alone.
I am deeply moved by the outpouring of love from so many friends, neighbours, well-wishers, and families who came in their millions to honour her life and legacy. Seeing you all here, standing with our family through these most difficult hours, reminded me of something very precious: that she was not only a mother to me, but in many ways a mother of this nation.
I also wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the senior dignitaries of countries from the South Asian region who came here personally, and to those countries, diplomats and partners who shared their condolences with the family and party, with their deep respect and sympathy. Your gestures of condolence have touched our hearts profoundly.
In this moment of personal loss, I cannot help but remember the ones I have lost before, my dear father, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, and my brother Arafat Rahman. And yet, to be surrounded here by so many who feel like family has been a source of comfort I never expected on a day like this. Today, at a time of greatest sorrow, I feel like this whole nation is my family.
My mother devoted her life to serving others, day after day, with relentless dedication. I feel the weight of that legacy, and I promise to honour it with humility and commitment. Where her journey paused, I will strive to continue her work to the people whose faith and love sustained her until her last breath.
May Allah grant her eternal peace, and may we find strength in the devotion she shared with us all.