Former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia Passes Away at 80

Bangladesh’s former prime minister and veteran opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia passed away early Tuesday morning after a prolonged illness. She was 80.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson died at around 6 am while undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital, where she had been admitted for over a month with serious complications involving her heart and lungs. Party officials said she also suffered from pneumonia and had been battling multiple health issues for years.

In a statement, the BNP said Khaleda Zia breathed her last shortly after the dawn prayer and appealed to people across the country to pray for her soul.

Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister, was a towering figure in the nation’s politics for more than three decades. She led the country three times and played a key role in restoring parliamentary democracy after years of military rule. Her 1991 election victory marked a turning point in Bangladesh’s political history.

Born in Jalpaiguri in undivided India, she moved to what is now Bangladesh after Partition. Widely known by her nickname “Putul,” she entered politics after the assassination of her husband, President Ziaur Rahman, and went on to become the face of the BNP.

Her time in power saw major political reforms, including the introduction of a caretaker government system to ensure fair elections. However, her later years in office were overshadowed by political unrest, allegations of corruption, and rising extremism, deepening the bitter rivalry with her long-time opponent Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League. Their feud, often described as the clash of the “battling Begums,” shaped Bangladesh’s politics for years.

Khaleda Zia spent her final years largely out of public life due to failing health and legal battles. She was imprisoned in a corruption case in 2018, later released on humanitarian grounds, and freed from house arrest last year. Earlier this year, Bangladesh’s top court cleared her and her family of the charges that had kept her out of active politics.

She is survived by her elder son Tarique Rahman, who recently returned to Bangladesh after years abroad, his wife Zubaida Rahman, and their daughter Zaima. Her younger son, Arafat Rahman Koko, died in 2015.

Leaders across the political spectrum expressed condolences, describing Khaleda Zia as a central figure in Bangladesh’s democratic journey. Her death marks the end of an era in the country’s often turbulent political history.

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