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News Topical, Digital Desk : Former Bangladeshi leader Khaleda Zia has died at the age of 80. She had been ill for a long time. Her party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said Khaleda died at 6 a.m. on December 30 while undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka. She had been battling kidney and heart disease, as well as a pneumonia infection. She had been suffering from various complications for several years, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, and eye problems. She was admitted to the hospital on November 23rd due to breathing problems. She had previously undergone heart pacemaker surgery in June 2024.
Who was Khaleda Zia?
Khaleda was born in Jalpaiguri (now in West Bengal, India) in 1945. She initially attended Dinajpur Missionary School and later matriculated from Dinajpur Girls' School in 1960. Khaleda's father, Iskandar Majumdar, was a businessman and her mother, Tayyaba Majumdar, was a housewife. She married Zia ur Rehman in 1960. He was a Captain in the Pakistan Army at the time, and she continued her studies at Surendranath College in Dinajpur until 1965, when she moved to West Pakistan to join her husband.
Journey from shy housewife to first woman PM
When the Liberation War began in 1971, Zia-ur-Rehman rebelled against the Pakistani Army and took part in the war. Until then, Khaleda was not politically active. Zia-ur-Rehman used to say that she was a shy housewife devoted to her two children.
But after the assassination of Ziaur Rahman on May 30, 1981, the BNP was plunged into a serious crisis. During this difficult time, Khaleda Zia entered politics. She joined the party and became its vice-president on January 12, 1984. She was elected chairperson of the BNP on May 10, 1984.
Khaleda Zia was the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She was sworn in as Prime Minister for the first time on March 20, 1991. She subsequently became Prime Minister again in 1996, although many parties boycotted the election.
During this period, he established a provision for an impartial caretaker government in case of an emergency. He amended the Constitution to do so. However, in the midterm elections held after the caretaker government was formed, the BNP party suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Awami League.
Khaleda went to jail for the first time
Although she won the 2001 elections with a two-thirds majority, she was imprisoned by the military-backed caretaker government in 2007. She was released in 2008.
Then in 2018 also she had to go to jail, but her party and family members repeatedly requested the then Awami League government to allow Khaleda to go abroad for better treatment, but their appeal was rejected.
He also had to go to jail on corruption charges.
Khaleda Zia was jailed in 2018 during the Awami League government. She was accused of involvement in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption scandal. However, she was briefly released during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Khaleda was granted full pardon on 6 August 2025. President Mohammad Shahabuddin pardoned her sentence using the presidential power granted under Article 49 of the Constitution.
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