The funeral of Bangladesh’s former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, was held at the Manik Mia Avenue this afternoon. The funeral prayer (namaz-e-janaza) was attended by the Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, representing India.
Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, Khatib Mufti Mohammad Abdul Malek conducted the funeral prayers while Bangladesh Nationalist Party's Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan read out a brief biography of Zia. Millions of people joined the namaz-e-janaza of Zia, three-time Prime Minister and political icon of Bangladesh.
Zia died on Tuesday in Dhaka due to a prolonged illness at the age of 80.
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, and Khaleda Zia's son and BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman joined the funeral prayers along with foreign dignitaries, advisers of the interim government, leaders of different political parties and senior government and military officials.
"Please pray to Allah seeking her place in heaven," Zia’s elder son, Rahman, told the crowd ahead of the prayers.
The national flag-draped coffin of Zia was placed at the west end of Manik Mia Avenue. After the funeral prayers, Zia will be laid to eternal rest beside her husband, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman's grave in the city with state honour, while the general public will not be allowed during the burial as there will be an elaborate state funeral ceremony.
Zia’s personal physician, Dr AZM Zahid Hossain, said she breathed her last early on Tuesday while receiving treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka. The news of her death was shared by Zia's elder son and Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) acting Chairman, Tarique Rahman, yesterday morning, saying, "My mother is no more.”
Zia's demise came less than six weeks before Bangladesh would vote in the parliamentary elections for the first time after a massive student-led uprising led to the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina-led government. Zia and Hasina were political rivals.
She has held the post of the prime minister three times. Zia has also remained the chairperson of BNP.
Zia is survived by her elder son, Tarique Rahman, his wife Zubaida Rahman, and their daughter Zaima, who were present at the hospital. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was also at the hospital.
Bangladesh's interim government Chief Muhammad Yunus described former prime minister Zia as a "great guardian" whose role in the country’s democratic journey would be "remembered forever".
Zia was born on August 15, 1946, to Taiyaba and Iskandar Majumdar in Dinajpur district in undivided India. Her father migrated from Jalpaiguri, where the family ran a tea business, to what was East Pakistan after the partition.
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