KHALEDA ZIA AND THE RIVALRY ERA THAT DEFINED MODERN BANGLADESH

From street agitation to electoral showdowns, a politics forged in permanent confrontation.

- TDG NETWORK

From jail to hospital (Oct 2018 file photo): Khaleda Zia seen being taken to Dhaka’s BSMUU for medical examination while imprisoned in the related graft cases.

Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's first female prime minister, died on 30 December 2025 at Dhaka's Evercare Hospital after a prolonged illness. Her death at age 80 was announced by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and the government immediately declared three days of national mourning. Tributes poured in from home and abroad. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief, recalling his 2015 meeting with her and saying he hoped "her vision and legacy will continue to guide our partnership". Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called Zia a "committed friend" of Islamabad whose "lifelong service to Bangladesh... leaves a lasting legacy". China's Premier Li Qiang praised her as a veteran stateswoman and "old friend" of the Chinese people, highlighting her role in advancing Bangladesh-China ties during her premiership. In Dhaka, interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus hailed Zia as "a profoundly eminent figure" in Bangladesh's politics whose "extraordinary role" in establishing a multiparty democracy "will remain indelible in history".

Khaleda Majumder was born in 1945 in Jalpaiguri, Bengal Province (then British India). She was the third of five children of tea planter Iskandar Ali Majumder of Feni and his wife Taiyaba Majumder. In 1960 she married Captain Ziaur Rahman, adopting his surname and middle name (she became Khaleda Zia). When Ziaur Rahman became President in 1977, Khaleda rose to national prominence as First Lady. (Photo: Khaleda Zia with President Ziaur Rahman in the late 1970s.) After President Zia’s assassination in May 1981, Khaleda entered politics. In January 1982 she joined the BNP, the party her husband had founded, and by 1983 she was its vice-chairman.