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Dhaka, Dec 30: Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has died at the age of 80. She had been seriously ill and was on a ventilator for the past 20 days. Her family and party officials confirmed her death this morning.

Zia had long suffered from multiple health issues, including chest infections, liver and kidney problems, diabetes, and vision-related conditions. She served as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister twice, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006, becoming the country’s first female head of government. She was the widow of former President Ziaur Rahman.

Her eldest son and BNP executive chairman, Tarique Rahman, had been living in London since 2008 and returned to Bangladesh earlier this month. Her younger son, Arafat Rahman, passed away in 2015 due to a heart attack.

In February 2018, a special court in Dhaka sentenced Khaleda Zia to five years in prison over the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case, with her sons and other co-defendants receiving 10-year sentences. Fines totaling 21 million Bangladeshi taka were imposed. Zia appealed the ruling, and in October 2018, the High Court extended her sentence to ten years. After a legal delay of five years, she was released on August 6, 2024, and went to London for medical treatment, returning to Bangladesh in May 2025.

Politically, Zia was a long-time rival of Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the Awami League. Both emerged as key figures opposing military rule in the 1980s. Following the fall of military ruler Ershad in 1990, Zia won the 1991 elections, intensifying her political rivalry with Hasina. Media often dubbed their contest the “Battle of the Begums.”

Born in 1945 to a non-political family, Zia married army officer Ziaur Rahman in 1960. During Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war, Ziaur Rahman supported the liberation movement. After his assassination in 1981, Khaleda Zia reluctantly entered politics and became BNP chair in 1984. Under her leadership, BNP won Bangladesh’s first genuine democratic elections in 1991, making her the country’s first female Prime Minister. She lost power in 1996 but returned to office in 2001.

Khaleda Zia’s death marks the end of an era for Bangladesh, as the nation loses one of its most influential political leaders.

People’s News Monitoring Service