Slain chief’s widow who went on to guide Bangladesh

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Qadir Kollol, BBC Information Bangla

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e2b8/live/fba7ce90-e548-11f0-b627-ab7e40138496.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images Khaleda Zia waves at her supporters 22 June before addressing a protest rally at Dhaka's downtown Paltan Maidan ground." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photographs Khaleda Zia was the primary feminine prime minister of Bangladesh, serving from 1991-1996 and 2001-2006

Khaleda Zia, who has died on the age of 80, was Bangladesh's first feminine prime minister.

She was as soon as described as a "shy housewife" to her husband Ziaur Rahman, a number one determine within the nation's wrestle for independence who grew to become the president in 1977.

However following her husband's assassination in 1981, Zia rose to guide his Bangladesh Nationalist Social gathering (BNP) and served two phrases as prime minister - first within the Nineteen Nineties after which within the early 2000s.

Her tumultuous public life didn't finish after her premiership. She was later convicted for corruption and spent years in jail, however was acquitted after a 2024 rebellion that noticed her long-time rival, Sheikh Hasina, swept from energy.

An 'uncompromising chief'

Begum Khaleda Zia was born in 1945 in Dinajpur, then a part of British India and now in Bangladesh.

On the age of 15, she married Ziaur Rahman, then a younger military officer.

In 1971, he joined a mutiny towards West Pakistani forces and declared independence for Bangladesh.

After the army seized energy in 1977, Rahman - who then grew to become the military chief of workers - declared himself president. He reintroduced political events and a free media, and was later endorsed by standard vote.

He confronted as many as 20 army coups, and handled them brutally. There have been stories of mass executions of troopers.

In 1981, he was assassinated by a gaggle of military officers in Chittagong.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2668/live/541c04a0-0963-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images A black and white photo from 1980 showing President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh wearing a suit and tie standing next to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wearing a long-sleeved dress, standing in front of several leafy potted plants" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photographs President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1980

On the age of 36, Khaleda Zia grew to become a widow.

Till then, she had saved a low profile and appeared to take little curiosity in public life.

However in 1982 she grew to become a member of the BNP, the occasion based by her husband, and later rose to change into its vice-chairman.

That yr - 1982 - was additionally when Bangladesh started 9 years of army dictatorship, after its military chief seized energy in a coup.

Throughout this era, Zia launched into a fervent marketing campaign towards army rule, staging a boycott of the military's heavily-managed elections.

She was put below home arrest a number of occasions for her activism, however gained a status among the many individuals as an "uncompromising chief".

After the autumn of the army authorities in 1990, Khaleda Zia and the BNP grew to become the most important occasion in post-military elections, and he or she was sworn in as prime minister in 1991.

Having absorbed a lot of the powers of the previous presidency, she was now the primary feminine chief of Bangladesh, and solely the second elected lady to guide a Muslim nation.

Together with her ascension to the premiership, Bangladesh's authorities returned to a parliamentary system.

Among the many most notable reforms she carried out throughout her first time period was making major faculty schooling free and obligatory for all.

However in 1996 she would lose her bid for re-election to Hasina's Awami League.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/db2d/live/45ea5f90-e544-11f0-a1d2-bbc606137462.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Khaleda Zia is wearing a white headscarf and saree and gesturing with a raised finger, while she is taken away in a crowd by a group of police officers in blue uniforms and hats" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photographs Khaleda Zia is arrested by police throughout anti-government protests in 1987

In 2001, Zia had her revenge, having shaped an alliance with a gaggle of Islamist events. Collectively, they gained practically two-thirds of the seats in parliament, however the BNP's closeness to the Islamist events would draw criticism over time.

In her second time period, Zia championed ladies's points, equivalent to introducing a quota for feminine MPs and offering schooling for younger ladies - in a rustic the place 70% of them have been illiterate.

The years in opposition

Quickly after Zia ended her time period in workplace in 2006, Bangladesh was gripped by riots within the political vacuum. Amid the unrest, the nation's interim authorities, backed by the army, banned most political exercise and commenced a crackdown on high-level corruption, which lower throughout political strains.

Zia was arrested on prices of extortion and corruption. So was her nice rival Hasina.

Each ladies, who had alternated from authorities to opposition for one of the best a part of 20 years, have been immediately mired in court docket circumstances.

Restrictions have been lifted on Zia within the years after, and after shedding a military-sponsored election in 2008 she grew to become the opposition chief.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b43d/live/df324db0-0968-11f0-9401-656920122950.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Khaled Zia addresses her supporters in 2015" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photographs Khaled Zia addresses her supporters in 2015

The BNP misplaced its illustration in parliament altogether after boycotting the 2014 election.

In 2018, Zia was convicted and jailed for 5 years after being discovered responsible of embezzling about $252,000 (£188,000) meant for an orphanage belief arrange when she was prime minister.

She grew to become the one prisoner locked up in Dhaka's previous - and now disused - central jail. The size of her sentence disqualified her from looking for public workplace.

She denied wrongdoing, and stated the costs have been politically motivated.

A yr later, the then 73-year-old Zia was transferred to hospital for therapy for circumstances together with extreme arthritis and uncontrolled diabetes.

She was ultimately launched from jail on well being grounds and instructed to stay at dwelling.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/418e/live/96385940-42af-11ef-a4ce-49c35199a012.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Thousands of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters protest in Dhaka on 10 September 2018" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photographs 1000's of BNP supporters protested in Dhaka in 2018, demanding the quick launch of Ms Zia

Tides turned but once more in 2024, when Hasina's authorities was swept from energy on a wave of standard discontent.

Hasina fled to India, and the interim authorities that changed her ordered Khaleda Zia's launch and the unfreezing of her financial institution accounts.

By this time, she was affected by a collection of life-threatening circumstances together with cirrhosis of the liver and kidney injury.

In January 2025, the courts acquitted her, lifting journey restrictions and permitting her to journey to London for therapy.

However within the early morning of 30 December, she died in Dhaka after affected by months of poor well being.

She is survived by her elder son Tarique Rahman, who returned to Bangladesh in late December after spending years in exile in London, and who's broadly seen because the frontrunner to change into Bangladesh's subsequent chief. "Koko", her youthful son, died in 2015.