Kathmandu: Former Bangladesh Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia passed away at the age of 80 at 6 am local time on December 30.
The media cell of the BNP confirmed her death through social media. In a post on X, the party stated, “BNP chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia passed away at 6 am today.”
Khaleda Zia had been suffering from prolonged illness over the past few months and was undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka. Her death came five days after her son, Tariq Rahman, returned to Dhaka from London on December 25 after 17 years.
A dominant figure in Bangladeshi politics for more than four decades, Khaleda Zia assumed leadership of the BNP following the assassination of her husband, President Ziaur Rahman, in 1981. She went on to become Bangladesh’s first female prime minister in 1991.
She returned to power in 2001 and led the government until 2006. In recent years, the BNP boycotted the last three national elections. In 2014, Khaleda Zia also expressed support for the student movement against then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
