Death of Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister Khaleda Zia

Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia passed away at the age of 80. She served as Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She became the second female Prime Minister in the Muslim world after Benazir Bhutto.

• Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia passed away in a hospital in Dhaka. She was 80 years old. Khaleda Zia, who served twice as Prime Minister, was one of the most prominent figures in Bangladesh’s politics for decades and remained the Chairperson of BNP for many years.
• She served as Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She became the second female Prime Minister in the Muslim world after Benazir Bhutto.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the demise of former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Dhaka. The Prime Minister recalled his warm meeting with her in Dhaka in 2015.
• Zia was the widow of Bangladesh’s former President and military hero Ziaur Rahman, who led the struggle for democracy in the country, but was assassinated in a military coup in 1981.
• Forbes magazine placed Khaleda Zia at 14th position in 2004, 29th position in 2005, and 33rd position in 2006 in the list of the world’s 100 most powerful women.

Political history of Khaleda Zia

• She first came to power in 1991, remained in office until 1996 and then served for a brief second term. However, the opposition boycotted the election results and Zia was removed from power by Hasina, who remained her staunch political rival for the next 30 years.
• Over the past three decades, when Zia and Hasina alternated as Prime Minister, they remained trapped in a fierce political rivalry. Zia’s 2001 tenure faced allegations of corruption and after Hasina returned to power again in 2009, several cases were registered against her.
• In 2018, Zia was found guilty on corruption charges and sent to jail for 10 years. Her party said that these charges were politically motivated to weaken the opposition, which the Hasina government rejected.
• Under Hasina’s rule, Zia’s BNP party regularly faced harassment and repression, in which most leaders were sent to jail or forced to flee abroad.
• Zia remained under house arrest for years, while her health began to deteriorate. But in 2024, after Hasina’s fall during a major popular uprising, she was freed from years of house arrest.
• In January, Zia was allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment, while Hasina’s government had rejected the requests at least 18 times.
• Despite years of poor health and imprisonment, Zia promised in November to campaign in the elections to be held in February 2026, which will be the first election in Bangladesh after Hasina’s fall. However, at the end of November, Zia was taken to the hospital, where her condition continued to deteriorate.

About Khaleda Zia

• Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia was born on 15 August 1945 in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, where her childhood was filled with the love of family and neighbors, after partition her family moved to East Pakistan.
• She was named Khaleda Khanam; this fair and doll-like looking girl was affectionately called ‘Putul’ by family members and neighbors, while many people also called her by the name ‘Beauty’.