DHAKA: Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, Khaleda Zia, died after a prolonged illness, her opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said on Tuesday.
Khaleda, aged 80, had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, chest and heart problems, her doctors said. “The BNP chairperson and former prime minister, the national leader Begum Khaleda Zia, passed away today at 6:00am (0000 GMT), just after the Fajr prayer,” the party said in a statement.
“We pray for the forgiveness of her soul and request everyone to offer prayers for her departed soul,” it added.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus said Bangladesh “has lost a great guardian”. “Through her uncompromising leadership, the nation was repeatedly freed from undemocratic conditions and inspired to regain liberty,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a statement.
“I pray for the eternal peace and forgiveness of Begum Khaleda Zia’s soul,” ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina said, in a statement on social media by her now banned Awami League party.
Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in elections set for February 2026 — the first vote since a mass uprising toppled her arch-rival Hasina last year.
Zia’s BNP is widely seen as a frontrunner. But in late November, she was rushed to hospital, where, despite the best efforts of medics, her condition declined from a raft of health issues.
Zia was jailed for corruption in 2018 under Hasina’s government, which also blocked her from travelling abroad for medical treatment.
She was released last year, shortly after Hasina was forced from power. There had been plans earlier this month to fly her on a special air ambulance to London, but her condition was not stable enough.
Her son, political heavyweight Tarique Rahman, only returned to Bangladesh after 17 years in self-imposed exile on Thursday, where he was welcomed back by huge crowds of joyous supporters.
Rahman will lead the party through the February 12 general election, and is expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.
Bangladesh declares three-day state mourning
Bangladesh declared three days of state mourning, with Khaleda’s funeral to be held on Wednesday. Interim leader Yunus, in a television broadcast to the nation, appealed for calm. “I 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,” Yunus said.
“I hope that during this difficult period, you will show utmost patience and support one another in carrying out her last rites, including the funeral.”
Asif Nazrul, who holds the law portfolio in the interim government, said the funeral prayers would be held in front of parliament after midday prayers, and that Zia would then be buried alongside her late husband, Ziaur Rahman.
‘Committed friend to Pakistan’
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was deeply saddened by Khaleda’s passing. “Her lifelong service to Bangladesh and its growth and development leaves a lasting legacy,” he said.
“Begum Zia was a committed friend of Pakistan. My government and the people of Pakistan stand with the people of Bangladesh in this moment of sorrow,” he said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and the people of Bangladesh during this difficult time,” he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari said Khaleda’s “leadership and services will be remembered with respect”.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also expressed his condolences at Khaleda’s passing.
Separately, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hoped Zia’s “vision and legacy will continue to guide our partnership”, a warm message despite the strained relations between New Delhi and Dhaka since Hasina’s fall.
‘Battling begums’
Known by her first name, Khaleda was described as shy and devoted to raising her two sons until her husband, military leader and then-president Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in an attempted army coup in 1981.
Three years later she became the head of the BNP, which her husband had founded, and vowed to deliver on his aim of “liberating Bangladesh from poverty and economic backwardness”.
She joined hands with Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father and head of the Awami League party, to lead a popular uprising for democracy that toppled military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad in 1990.
But their cooperation did not last long. Their bitter rivalry would lead to the two being dubbed “the battling begums”. Supporters saw her as polite and traditional yet quietly stylish, someone who chose her words carefully. But they also viewed her as a bold, uncompromising leader when it came to defending her party and confronting her rivals.
Hasina, by contrast, was far more outspoken and assertive. Their opposite personalities helped fuel the rivalry that dominated Bangladesh’s politics for decades.
In 1991, Bangladesh held what was hailed as its first free election. Khaleda won a surprise victory over Hasina, having gained the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
In doing so, Khaleda became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister and only the second woman to lead a democratic government of a mainly Muslim nation after Benazir Bhutto, who was elected three years earlier.
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.
She lost to Hasina in the 1996 general election but came back five years later with a surprise landslide win. Her second term was marred by the rise of militants and allegations of corruption.
In 2004, a rally that Hasina was addressing was hit by grenades. Hasina survived but over 20 people were killed and more than 500 wounded. Khaleda’s government and its allies were widely blamed.
In 2018, after Hasina had reclaimed Bangladesh’s highest office, Rahman was tried in absentia and sentenced to life for the attack. The BNP denounced the trial as politically motivated.
Detention and freedom
Although Khaleda later clamped down on radical groups, her second stint as prime minister ended in 2006 when an army-backed interim government took power amid political instability and street violence.
The interim government jailed both Khaleda and Hasina on charges of corruption and abuse of power for about a year before they were both released ahead of a general election in 2008. Khaleda never regained power. With the BNP boycotting the 2014 and 2024 elections, her vitriolic feud with Hasina continued to dominate Bangladeshi politics.
Tension between their two parties often led to strikes, violence and deaths, impeding the economic development of Bangladesh, a poverty-stricken country of about 175 million that is low-lying and prone to devastating floods.
In 2018, Khaleda, Rahman and aides were convicted of stealing some $250,000 in foreign donations received by an orphanage trust set up when she was last prime minister — charges that she said were part of a plot to keep her and her family out of politics.
She was jailed but moved to house arrest in March 2020 on humanitarian grounds as her health deteriorated.
Khaleda was freed from house arrest in August 2024 after Hasina’s ouster. In early 2025, Khaleda and Rahman were acquitted by Bangladesh’s Supreme Court in the corruption case that resulted in the 2018 jail sentences. Rahman had been acquitted of the 2004 grenade attack on Hasina a month earlier.
