{"id":16219,"date":"2025-12-30T14:51:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T14:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ugandaupdatenews.com\/?p=16219"},"modified":"2025-12-30T14:51:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T14:51:49","slug":"bangladesh-mourns-former-leader-khaleda-zia-who-died-aged-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/bangladesh-mourns-former-leader-khaleda-zia-who-died-aged-79\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh mourns former leader Khaleda Zia, who died aged 79"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bangladesh\u2019s first female prime minister dies after a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dhaka.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda \u2060Zia, Bangladesh\u2019s first female prime minister and a towering figure in the country\u2019s turbulent politics, has died at the age of 79 after a prolonged illness, according to her party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on Tuesday, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said Khaleda died at 6am local time (00:00 GMT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur beloved national leader is no longer with us,\u201d the BNP said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe pray for the forgiveness of her soul and request everyone to offer prayers for her departed soul,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh has declared three days of state mourning. Asif Nazrul, who holds the law portfolio in the interim government, said Khaleda\u2019s funeral will be held on Wednesday, with funeral prayers to be held in front of parliament after midday prayers, before she is buried alongside her late husband, the assassinated former President Ziaur Rahman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda died at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where she was admitted<\/a> on November 23 with symptoms of a lung infection, according to The Daily Star, a Bangladesh news website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her doctors said she had advanced \u200bcirrhosis \u200cof the liver, arthritis, diabetes, and chest \u200cand heart \u200cproblems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda\u2019s death closes a chapter spanning more than three decades during which she and her rival Sheikh Hasina \u2014 who were known as the \u201cbattling begums\u201d \u2014 dominated Bangladeshi politics. Hasina, who was forced from power last year and sentenced to death in absentia<\/a> for her crackdown on student protesters, is now in exile in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\u2019s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, expressed his \u201cprofound sorrow\u201d at Khaleda\u2019s death in a statement on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He called the three-time prime minister a \u201csymbol of the democratic movement\u201d in Bangladesh and said the \u201cnation has lost a great guardian\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am deeply saddened and grief-stricken by her death,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a television broadcast to the nation, he acknowledged it was a \u201cdeeply emotional\u201d time for the country and appealed for calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI humbly appeal to everyone to maintain discipline while observing all forms of mourning, including the funeral prayers. I know you are all deeply emotional at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif also offered their condolences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modi expressed deep sadness in a post on X and said Khaleda\u2019s \u201cimportant contributions towards the development of Bangladesh, as well as India-Bangladesh relations, will always be remembered\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharif described Khaleda as a \u201ccommitted friend of Pakistan\u201d and said his government and the people of Pakistan stand with Bangladesh \u201cin this moment of sorrow\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer lifelong service to Bangladesh and its growth and development leaves a lasting legacy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting from outside Khaleda\u2019s residence in Dhaka, Al Jazeera\u2019s Tanvir Chowdhury said, while her health issues had been public knowledge for weeks, Bangladeshis were in shock at the loss of a towering figure in their country\u2019s national life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe nation is in mourning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands had gathered outside the hospital where she died to show their respect, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe has always been admired,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was at the forefront of the democratic movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First female prime minister<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda\u2019s legacy, like Hasina\u2019s, remains deeply contested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both women fought for democracy, against authoritarianism. But while Khaleda \u2013 unlike Hasina \u2013 was never accused of carrying out mass atrocities against critics, she too was known to be a polarising figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her uncompromising style while in opposition \u2013 leading election boycotts and prolonged street movements \u2013 combined with recurring allegations of corruption when she was in power, made her a figure who inspired intense loyalty among supporters and equal distrust among her critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda was born on August 15, 1946, in Dinajpur, then part of India\u2019s East Bengal, now northern Bangladesh. She married army officer Rahman in 1960 when she was about 15. Rahman gained prominence after Bangladesh\u2019s 1971 war of independence, later assuming the presidency in 1977 and founding the BNP in 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda\u2019s political career began not through ambition, but tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband was assassinated in an abortive military coup in 1981, plunging Bangladesh into turmoil. Rahman \u2013 who had stabilised the country after years of coups and countercoups \u2013 left behind a fragile political order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda, who was then 35 years old and a mother of two, inherited the BNP leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially dismissed as a political novice, she proved a formidable opponent, rallying against military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad, and later joining forces with Hasina, the daughter of assassinated independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to remove him in 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following year, Bangladesh held what was hailed as its first free election, and Khaleda secured a surprise victory over Hasina with support from the country\u2019s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She became only the second woman to lead a democratic government in a predominantly Muslim nation, after Pakistan\u2019s Benazir Bhutto three years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivalry with Hasina<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda replaced the presidential system with a parliamentary one, so that power rested with the prime minister. She also lifted restrictions on foreign investment and made primary education compulsory and free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She lost to Hasina in the 1996 general election but returned five years later with a surprise landslide win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But their intractable rivalry fuelled crises, including a standoff in January 2007 that brought military-backed emergency rule. Both women were detained for more than a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hasina later dominated, ruling from 2008 until her violent overthrow in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Khaleda, her son Tarique Rahman and aides were convicted of stealing some $250,000 in foreign donations received by an orphanage trust set up during her last term as prime minister \u2013 charges she denounced as part of a plot to keep her and her family out of politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She \u200dwas jailed but moved to house arrest in March 2020 on humanitarian grounds as her health deteriorated. Hasina\u2019s government also blocked her from travelling abroad for medical treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khaleda was released shortly after Hasina was forced from power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Bangladesh\u2019s Supreme Court acquitted Khaleda and her son in the corruption case. Rahman, who had also been acquitted of charges related to a 2004 grenade attack on Hasina, returned<\/a> to Bangladesh after 17 years in self-imposed exile on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Khaleda had promised in November to campaign in elections set for February \u2013 the first vote since the mass uprising that toppled her archrival last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahman will lead the BNP<\/a> in the February 12 general election and is expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahman had these words to day about his mother: \u201cTo many, she was the leader of the nation, an uncompromising leader, the Mother of Democracy, the Mother of Bangladesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo me, Khaleda Zia was a tender and loving mother who devoted her entire life to the country and its people. Throughout her life, she stood firm against autocracy, fascism, and domination, leading the struggle for freedom, sovereignty, and the restoration of democracy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe endured repeated arrests, denial of medical care, and relentless persecution. Yet even in pain, confinement, and uncertainty, she never stopped sheltering her family with courage and compassion. Her resilience was not loud, but it was unbreakable, \u201d Rahman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor:msserwanga@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bangladesh\u2019s first female prime minister dies after a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dhaka. Khaleda \u2060Zia, Bangladesh\u2019s first female<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/download-6.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15808,"url":"https:\/\/prowebinhost.com\/anzu\/sanae-takaichi-makes-history-as-japans-first-female-prime-minister\/","url_meta":{"origin":16219,"position":0},"title":"Sanae Takaichi makes history as Japan’s first female prime minister","author":"UgandaUpdate","date":"October 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Sanae Takaichi has been elected Japan's prime minister by its parliament, making her the first woman to hold the office. 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