Khaleda Zia laid to eternal rest

BNP Chairperson and three-time former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was laid to rest on Wednesday afternoon beside her late husband, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka.

Her burial took place around 4:30 PM with full state honours, following her namaz-e-janaza at South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

Family members, senior state officials, government representatives, foreign guests, diplomats and BNP leaders attended the ceremony.

Access to the burial site was restricted to authorised personnel and public movement in Zia Udyan, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, remained limited until the completion of the proceedings.

Earlier, hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered at Manik Mia Avenue to participate in her namaz-e-janaza, offering a final farewell amid an outpouring of grief.

The prayer was led at 3:02 PM by renowned Islamic scholar and Baitul Mukarram Mosque Khatib Mufti Mohammad Abdul Malek.

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, advisers of the interim government, senior BNP leaders, representatives of other political parties and the chiefs of the three armed services were among those who joined the janaza.

Foreign dignitaries, including representatives from India, Pakistan and several South and Southeast Asian countries, were also present.

At around 11:50 AM, a freezer van draped in the national red-and-green flag, carrying Khaleda Zia’s body, arrived at Manik Mia Avenue from Gulshan Avenue residence of her elder son, Tarique Rahman.

A multi-tier security arrangement was enforced throughout the event, with personnel from the army, police, RAB, BGB and other law enforcement agencies deployed to maintain order as thousands of people gathered, braving the biting winter cold.

Khaleda Zia passed away at 6:00 AM on Tuesday at Evercare Hospital after receiving medical treatment for more than a month.

She led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party for 41 years and became known as an “uncompromising leader” during the anti-autocracy movement of the 1990s.

Over her long political career, she served as a Member of Parliament five times, Prime Minister three times and Leader of the Opposition twice.

Beginning her political life as a homemaker, Khaleda Zia spent more than four decades in active politics, often on the streets leading movements, enduring arrests and imprisonment, yet never leaving the country.

Notably, she never lost an election she contested.

In recent years, she had been suffering from multiple chronic illnesses, including liver and kidney complications, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and recurring infections.