Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's First Female Prime Minister, Dies at 80; State Funeral Held in Dhaka
Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's first female prime minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), died on Tuesday at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness. Hundreds of thousands of people attended a state funeral held in Dhaka in her honor.
A motorcade carried Zia's body through the capital, with a hearse wrapped in the national flag. Flags were flown at half-mast across the country, and thousands of security officers were deployed to ensure order during the large public mourning.
Zia will be buried next to her late husband, Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1981. Earlier on the day of the funeral, her body was taken to the house of her son, Tarique Rahman, who had returned to Bangladesh after 17 years in exile in London. Tarique was seen reciting the Quran beside his mother's office, and he is regarded as a potential future BNP leader if the party regains power.
The funeral was attended by international dignitaries including India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Pakistan's National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Bhutan's Foreign Minister Lyonpo DN Dhungyel.
Khaleda Zia had a long-running political rivalry with Sheikh Hasina, the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The BNP had recently indicated that Zia intended to run in the upcoming February parliamentary elections, submitting a list that included her standing as a candidate in three constituencies.
