AFP via Getty ImagesThousands of people from across Bangladesh reached the capital, Dhaka, on Wednesday to pay their last respects to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
Zia, the country’s first woman prime minister, died on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. She was 80 years old.
Mourners held hands folded in prayer and carried flags bearing his photographs, and a convoy carrying Zia’s body – including a hearse draped with the national flag – drove through the streets near Parliament House.
Flags are flying at half-mast and thousands of security officers have been deployed.
“I’ve come all this way just to say goodbye. I know I won’t be able to see her face, but at least I can say goodbye. “I am taking him for the last rites,” said Setara Sultana, an activist from Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in an interview with the BBC.
Sharmina Siraj, a mother of two, called Zia “an inspiration,” noting that the scholarship started by the former leader to improve women’s education had “a huge impact” on her daughters.
“It is difficult to imagine women in leadership positions at any time,” she told AFP news agency.
Those who attended the funeral included India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Lyonpo DN Dhungyel.
Earlier in the day, Zia’s body was taken to the home of her son Tariq Rehman, who was seen reading the Quran next to his mother’s office.
The state funeral marks the end of Zia’s extraordinary journey from a housewife to the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
bbc banglaZia will be buried next to her husband, Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated while serving as president in 1981 – an event that thrust her into the political spotlight.
He led the BNP to the country’s first elections in 20 years. She was labelled an “uncompromising leader” after refusing to run in a controversial election in the 1980s under military ruler General Hussain Muhammad Ershad.
For many years, alongside her bitter political rival Sheikh Hasina, she fought for democracy and against military dictatorship, enduring arrests.
At the time, there was discussion among Bangladesh’s rulers about keeping the two “warring begums”—Zia and Hasina—out of politics, in what was then known as the “minus two” formula.
But Zia eventually became prime minister, first in 1991 and then in 2001.
He was detained in 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government.
Over the past 16 years, under Hasina’s Awami League government, Zia emerged as the most prominent symbol of resistance to Hasina’s rule, which many viewed as increasingly autocratic.
Supporters have praised Zia’s resilience, stating that she never gave up, refused to compromise her principles, and stuck to her convictions despite various personal and political setbacks, years of protests, and convictions under Hasina’s government.
Hundreds of thousands of people, including those who did not vote for his party, attended the funeral, reflecting his popularity among the public.
People who worked with him remembered a leader who used to ask probing questions while making important decisions.
As economist Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya said, “She made a lasting impression as a political leader who appreciated ideas and valued informed decision-making.”
In his later years, he suffered from several health problems. Despite this, the BNP said it intended to contest elections for parliament in February 2026, when the country will vote for the first time since a popular revolution ousted Hasina from power last year.
According to the party’s candidate list released earlier this month, Zia was to contest from three constituencies.
returned to Bangladesh only last week.
If the party succeeds in regaining power, it anticipates that his son will take on the role of the country’s new leader. Rahman, 60, returned to Bangladesh only last week after 17 years of self-exile in London.
“The nation is mourning the loss of the guiding presence that shaped its democratic aspirations,” Rahman said after his mother’s death on Tuesday.
reuters
