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Published : 01 Jan 2026, 07:47 PM
People from all walks of life, including BNP activists, have paid their respects to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia as the Zia Udyan was opened to the public the day following the burial of the former prime minister.
After the garden opened on Thursday afternoon, people visited the grave and offered prayers.
“May you [Khaleda] be well in the afterlife,” visitors prayed.
On Wednesday, Khaleda’s funeral was held outside parliament amid a sea of people. She was later buried with state honours at Zia Udyan, next to the grave of her husband, former president Ziaur Rahman.
In the morning, former home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar and BNP Joint Secretary General Syed Emran Saleh Prince visited her grave and offered prayers.
Babar said, “She was a leader who upheld the ideals of Ziaur Rahman, who is known as the embodiment of protecting the country’s independence and sovereignty.
“The BNP will continue on the path of democracy, and our leader Tarique Rahman will take the country forward on that path.
“All of you should pray for her, may Allah grant her the best place in heaven.”
After the tomb was opened to the public, large crowds from all walks of life, including BNP activists, poured into the site.
People of all ages paid homage at Khaleda’s grave, reciting prayers, with some breaking down in tears.
Sultan Mahmud, a Jubo Dal activist from Kurigram, said: “As long as Bangladesh exists, no one will forget the national leader Khaleda Zia. Generations will remember her because she sacrificed everything to keep the flag of democracy flying till her last breath.”
BNP activist Saiful Alam said, “Today there is no leader -- only her grave. It breaks my heart, but this is the rule of life. I pray that Allah grants her a place in heaven.”
Doctors declared Khaleda dead at 6am on Dec 30, after being treated at Dhaka’s Evercare Hospital for 40 days.
Khaleda, known as the “uncompromising leader” through the anti-autocracy movement of the 1990s, led the BNP for 41 years.
