Tarique leads BNP Standing Committee meeting after Khaleda Zia’s death

The party is deciding its next course of action after Khaleda’s death

Senior leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are holding a meeting to decide their next steps following the death of the party’s chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

The Standing Committee meeting began around 12:35pm on Tuesday at the BNP chairperson’s office in Gulshan, chaired by the party’s Acting Chairman and Khaleda's son Tarique Rahman.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Selima Rahman and AZM Zahid Hossain were in attendance.

Standing Committee members Salahuddin Ahmed, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Hafizuddin Ahmed and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku were on their way to the Gulshan office to attend the meeting.

Tarique came directly to the party office in Gulshan from Evercare Hospital for the meeting.

Khaleda died at 6am on Tuesday while undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, her personal physician Prof AZM Zahid Hossain said. She was 79.

Following the official announcement of her death, party flags were lowered to half-mast and black flags were hoisted at all BNP offices. Party leaders and supporters also gathered outside the chairperson’s office, enveloped in a pall of grief