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Published : 31 Dec 2025, 05:19 PM
A vast sea of mourners has filled Dhaka's Manik Mia Avenue as Bangladesh bid farewell to Khaleda Zia, a political titan who shaped the country's politics for more than four decades.
The former prime minister was buried with full state honours around 4:30pm on Wednesday beside her husband, BNP founder and former president Ziaur Rahman, at Zia Udyan, more than four decades after he was laid to rest there.
Earlier, hundreds of thousands gathered in front of the Parliament complex for her funeral prayers, with the crowd spilling well beyond Manik Mia Avenue and stretching along Mirpur Road.
The funeral prayers were held shortly after 3pm, led by Abdul Malek, the Khatib of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque. Special arrangements were made to allow women to take part in the prayers.
It was at the same Manik Mia Avenue that the funeral prayers of Khaleda's husband Ziaur Rahman were held on Jun 2, 1981, before he was buried at Chandrima Udyan, now known as Zia Udyan.
Khaleda married Zia in 1960, when he was a captain in the East Bengal Regiment of the Pakistan Army. During Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War, he served as commander of Sector 1 and head of Z Force, later receiving the Bir Uttam gallantry award for his role in the war.
Zia rose to power in the years following independence but was killed in Chattogram on May 30, 1981, during a failed military coup while serving as president.
After his death, Khaleda, then a homemaker, assumed leadership of the BNP. She was elected party chairperson in August 1984 and remained in the role for the rest of her life.
Under her leadership, the BNP formed a seven-party alliance in 1983 and launched a sustained movement against military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Her refusal to compromise with the Ershad regime earned her the reputation of being an “uncompromising leader” among supporters.
Khaleda, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, served three terms in office, and was elected to parliament on five occasions, while serving as the leader of the opposition twice.
She died early on Tuesday after spending 40 days at Dhaka's Evercare Hospital, prompting three days of state mourning and a public holiday on Wednesday.
On the morning of the funeral, her coffin was taken from Evercare Hospital to the Gulshan residence of her elder son, Acting BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman, before being brought to the Parliament complex shortly before midday.
The funeral prayers were attended by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, members of the Advisory Council, Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, and the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, alongside senior BNP leaders and representatives of other political parties.
Before the prayers, Tarique addressed the crowd briefly on behalf of the family, asking people to pray for his mother and seeking forgiveness for any harm she may have caused during her lifetime.
“If my mother owed any debt to anyone, please contact me and I will arrange for it to be repaid,” he told mourners.
“And if anyone was hurt by anything she said or did, I seek forgiveness on her behalf.”
Tarique returned to Bangladesh on Dec 25 after spending over 17 years in exile in the United Kingdom and is now overseeing party affairs as preparations continue for the parliamentary elections.
Several foreign dignitaries travelled to Dhaka to pay their respects, including India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and foreign ministers from Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Heads of diplomatic missions from China, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries also attended.
