Begum Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, died on Tuesday, December 30, after a long illness. She was 80.
Begum Khaleda Ziachairman of the company Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) she breathed her last at 6 am, according to a statement issued by her party.
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The death of the two-time former prime minister comes at a pivotal time in Bangladesh’s democratic history. her son Tariq Rahmanwidely regarded as the front-runner to be Bangladesh’s next prime minister, he returned to the country after 17 years in exile ahead of Bangladesh’s landmark general election.
Rahman, who has lived in London since 2008, is expected to become the country’s new leader if the BNP emerges as the largest party.
Rahman’s return comes after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted last year. Hasina lives in exile in India and her party is unlikely to be allowed to contest the election.
Who was Begum Khaleda Zia?
Begum Zia is one of Bangladesh’s most influential political figures and a two-time prime minister, best known as the long-time chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Alongside the now-exiled Sheikh Hasina, Zia dominated the country’s politics for more than three decades, shaping a deeply polarized political landscape.
Begum Zia served as Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first woman in the history of Bangladesh and the second in the Muslim world (after Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan) to head a democratic government as Prime Minister. Her first term as Prime Minister of Bangladesh marked Bangladesh’s return to parliamentary democracy after years of military rule
Begum Khaleda Zia’s father moved to what was then West Pakistan after Partition from Jalpaiguri, India, where he ran a tea shop. She studied at Dinajpur Government Girls High School and later at Surendranath College.
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Begum Zia was born on 15 August 1945 in Dinajpur (then East Bengal) after the assassination of her husband. President Ziaur Rahmanin 1981. Ziaur Rahman, a former army chief and independence war hero, founded the BNP and ruled Bangladesh from 1977 until his death. Begum Zia married Ziaur Rahman in 1960.
Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in 1981. BNP Vice President Justice Abdus Sattar took over as Acting President as well as Chairman of BNP. Justice Sattar was ousted by the then Bangladesh Army Chief, General Hussain Muhammad Ershadwho declared martial law on March 24, 1982.
BNP Vice President in 1983
Begim Zia formally took over as chairman of the BNP in 1984 and emerged as a central figure in the mass movement against Ershad that led to his downfall in 1990.
Begum Zia condemned the rigged elections of 1986 and did not participate in the elections, while her Awami League rivals, Jamaat-e-Islami and the Communist Party of Bangladesh joined the election under the Jatiya Party-led government.
Begum Zia was detained seven times from 1983 to 1990. She led the mobilization of the BNP student front Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal (JCD) and won 270 out of 321 student unions across the country. These students were instrumental in the movement that led to the fall of Ershad’s regime in 1990.
First female Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Begum Khaleda Zia became the first woman Prime Minister in 1991. She became Prime Minister for the second consecutive term in 1996 after the BNP won a landslide. She resigned within a month as her second term was marred by allegations of corruption, political violence, Islamist militancy and tensions. civil-military relations.
The BNP lost the new elections in June 1996. In 1999, the BNP formed a four-party opposition alliance in 1999 with the Jatiya Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote and launched several agitation programs against the decision. Awami League.
Begum Zia was elected in five separate parliamentary constituencies in the general elections of 1991, 1996 and 2001. In 2008, she won all three constituencies in which she contested.
Rivalry with Sheikh Hasina
Khaleda Zia’s rivalry with Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League leader and daughter of Bangladesh’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is one of South Asia’s most enduring political disputes.
Political animosity between the two leaders has often paralyzed the government, sparked street protests and led to repeated election boycotts.
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In September 2007, Begum Zia was arrested on corruption charges.
After Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2009, Begum Zia faced a series of corruption cases. In 2018, she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case and sentenced to prison, effectively barring her from contesting elections. She has consistently denied wrongdoing and called the cases politically motivated.
Due to her deteriorating health, she was released from prison in 2020 and allowed to remain under house arrest, later receiving treatment abroad.
Ties with India
New Delhi has traditionally viewed the Khaleda Zia dispensation in Bangladesh as less predictable and less cooperative, particularly on security matters. New Delhi has warmed more to Sheikh Hasina’s leadership, seeing her as a more reliable partner.
Khaled Zia’s connection to India is usually defined by distance rather than involvement. Although she did not cut ties with Delhi, her leadership marked a period of frosty relations and limited strategic cooperation. This is in stark contrast to the close India-Bangladesh partnership that developed during Sheikh Hasina’s rule in Bangladesh.
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Another thing is that India-Bangladesh relations have deteriorated recently. After Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, ties between Delhi and Dhaka cooled significantly. Analysts describe the period as a shift from a “golden era” of cooperation to one marked by suspicion, reduced engagement and diplomatic unrest.
The current caretaker government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, was seen in India as less aligned with New Delhi’s strategic interests. The recent lynching and public burning of 25-year-old Hindu Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh has sparked protests in India in New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and other cities demanding protection of minorities and strong diplomatic action.
