Printed On 31 Dec 2025
Bangladesh bade farewell to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in a state funeral that drew huge crowds mourning a towering political determine whose management formed the nation for many years.
Zia, the primary lady to function prime minister within the South Asian nation of 170 million individuals, died on Tuesday aged 80. Flags flew at half-mast throughout the nation on Wednesday as hundreds of safety personnel lined Dhaka’s streets whereas her flag-draped coffin travelled by the capital.
Huge crowds gathered outdoors Bangladesh’s parliament constructing for the funeral prayers. Individuals from Dhaka and past streamed in direction of Manik Mia Avenue, the place the parliament constructing is situated, since early morning to pay their final respects.
Retired authorities official Minhaz Uddin, 70, got here regardless of by no means having voted for her. “I got here right here with my grandson, simply to say goodbye to a veteran politician whose contributions will all the time be remembered,” he mentioned, watching from behind a barbed wire barricade.
Zia entered politics following her husband’s dying and rose to prominence opposing a navy ruler who was in the end ousted in a 1990 mass rebellion. She first grew to become prime minister in 1991 after a landslide victory when parliamentary democracy was launched, and remained chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Get together till her dying.
Identified for her calm manner, Zia maintained a powerful political rivalry along with her archrival Sheikh Hasina, who led the Bangladesh Awami League occasion and dominated for 15 years earlier than being ousted in a 2024 mass rebellion.
Safety was intensive, with authorities deploying roughly 10,000 personnel, together with troopers, to keep up order. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus’s interim authorities introduced three days of mourning and declared Wednesday a public vacation to honour the three-time prime minister’s legacy.
