Tuesday, 30 December, 2025
Begum Khaleda Zia, former three times prime minister and one of the most consequential figures in Bangladesh’s political history, passed away on [day], drawing a curtain on an era defined by fierce contestation, endurance and mass appeal. She was 80.
Begum Khaleda Zia, the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) breathed her last at 6am on Tuesday, according to a A.K.M. Wahiduzzaman, the party’s ICT Affairs Secretary and head of its Online Activists Network. The BNP Media Cell’s verified Facebook page has since confirmed it.
Earlier Tarique Rahman and close relatives including Zubaida and Zaima Rahman, had visited Begum Zia at the hospital and left around 1.55am, after which Dr Zahid Hossain, the BNP’s standing committee member, had briefed the press that she was passing through “an extremely critical phase.”
Begum Zia, who was also the widow of ex-president Ziaur Rahman, saw her health deteriorate rapidly since late last month - she was admitted to Evercare Hospital on November 26 for the last time.
For more than four decades, Khaleda Zia stood at the heart of Bangladesh’s politics—often embattled, frequently isolated, yet never absent from the national imagination. To her supporters, she was the embodiment of resistance against authoritarianism; to her critics, a formidable rival who reshaped the contours of power. Few leaders have inspired such loyalty, provoked such polarization, or endured such prolonged adversity.
Widowed by the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman in 1981, Khaleda Zia entered politics at a moment of profound personal loss. What followed was an extraordinary political ascent. She rose to lead the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), transforming it into a mass-based force and positioning herself as the principal challenger to military rule in the late 1980s. Her role in the anti-autocracy movement remains one of the defining chapters of her public life.
Khaleda Zia served as prime minister twice—first from 1991 to 1996, restoring parliamentary democracy after years of authoritarian governance, and again from 2001 to 2006, presiding over a politically charged period marked by both economic initiatives and intense partisan conflict. Her governments oversaw key institutional developments, even as politics grew increasingly confrontational.
In her later years, Khaleda Zia’s life became synonymous with political persecution in the eyes of her followers. Convictions, imprisonment, prolonged illness and years of confinement gradually removed her from active politics, yet her symbolic presence only deepened. From jail cells to hospital rooms, she remained a rallying point for opposition politics and a reminder of unresolved democratic tensions.
Her struggle—personal and political—came to mirror the broader struggles of Bangladesh’s democracy: the clash between power and dissent, endurance and suppression, hope and disillusionment.
As news of her death spread, tributes poured in from across the country and beyond, with supporters remembering her as a leader who never bowed, and allies recalling a woman who carried grief into politics and politics into history.
Begum Khaleda Zia is survived by her sons, including BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and by a political legacy that will continue to shape Bangladesh’s future debates long after her passing.
Three times prime minister, uncompromising opposition leader and a central figure in Bangladesh’s turbulent democratic journey, Khaleda Zia leaves behind a legacy shaped by struggle, sacrifice and political resolve. Her death marks not just the loss of a former prime minister, but the fading of a generation that defined Bangladesh’s modern political era—through struggle, sacrifice and unyielding resolve.
Her struggle—personal and political—came to mirror the broader struggles of Bangladesh’s democracy: the clash between power and dissent, endurance and suppression, hope and disillusionment.
Key Years and Milestones
Comments
Begum Khaleda Zia, former three times prime minister and one of the most consequential figures in Bangladesh’s political history, passed away on [day], drawing a curtain on an era defined by fierce contestation, endurance and mass appeal. She was 80.
Begum Khaleda Zia, the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) breathed her last at 6am on Tuesday, according to a A.K.M. Wahiduzzaman, the party’s ICT Affairs Secretary and head of its Online Activists Network. The BNP Media Cell’s verified Facebook page has since confirmed it.
Earlier Tarique Rahman and close relatives including Zubaida and Zaima Rahman, had visited Begum Zia at the hospital and left around 1.55am, after which Dr Zahid Hossain, the BNP’s standing committee member, had briefed the press that she was passing through “an extremely critical phase.”
Begum Zia, who was also the widow of ex-president Ziaur Rahman, saw her health deteriorate rapidly since late last month - she was admitted to Evercare Hospital on November 26 for the last time.
For more than four decades, Khaleda Zia stood at the heart of Bangladesh’s politics—often embattled, frequently isolated, yet never absent from the national imagination. To her supporters, she was the embodiment of resistance against authoritarianism; to her critics, a formidable rival who reshaped the contours of power. Few leaders have inspired such loyalty, provoked such polarization, or endured such prolonged adversity.
Widowed by the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman in 1981, Khaleda Zia entered politics at a moment of profound personal loss. What followed was an extraordinary political ascent. She rose to lead the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), transforming it into a mass-based force and positioning herself as the principal challenger to military rule in the late 1980s. Her role in the anti-autocracy movement remains one of the defining chapters of her public life.
Khaleda Zia served as prime minister twice—first from 1991 to 1996, restoring parliamentary democracy after years of authoritarian governance, and again from 2001 to 2006, presiding over a politically charged period marked by both economic initiatives and intense partisan conflict. Her governments oversaw key institutional developments, even as politics grew increasingly confrontational.
In her later years, Khaleda Zia’s life became synonymous with political persecution in the eyes of her followers. Convictions, imprisonment, prolonged illness and years of confinement gradually removed her from active politics, yet her symbolic presence only deepened. From jail cells to hospital rooms, she remained a rallying point for opposition politics and a reminder of unresolved democratic tensions.
Her struggle—personal and political—came to mirror the broader struggles of Bangladesh’s democracy: the clash between power and dissent, endurance and suppression, hope and disillusionment.
As news of her death spread, tributes poured in from across the country and beyond, with supporters remembering her as a leader who never bowed, and allies recalling a woman who carried grief into politics and politics into history.
Begum Khaleda Zia is survived by her sons, including BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and by a political legacy that will continue to shape Bangladesh’s future debates long after her passing.
Three times prime minister, uncompromising opposition leader and a central figure in Bangladesh’s turbulent democratic journey, Khaleda Zia leaves behind a legacy shaped by struggle, sacrifice and political resolve. Her death marks not just the loss of a former prime minister, but the fading of a generation that defined Bangladesh’s modern political era—through struggle, sacrifice and unyielding resolve.
Her struggle—personal and political—came to mirror the broader struggles of Bangladesh’s democracy: the clash between power and dissent, endurance and suppression, hope and disillusionment.
Key Years and Milestones
Comments
