DHAKA: The funeral of Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister, Khalida Zia, will be held today at the National Parliament House Dhaka.
The Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq will take part in the ceremony as a representative of Pakistan, under the direct orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He will extend the Government and people of Pakistan’s condolences to Khalida Zia’s family.
Khalida Zia shall receive complete state honors and her final resting place will be next to her husband, Ziaur Rahman, a former President, among others.
The death of Khalida Zia led to the Bangladesh government declaring a three-day mourning period throughout the country. The former Prime Minister, who was hospitalized in Dhaka for medical treatment, has passed away yesterday thereby creating a vacuum of more than thirty years in the country’s political history.
Khalida Zia was the one who was elected two times as prime minister from 1991 to 1996 the first time and then 2001 to 2006 the second time – so she was one of the most important players in the politics of Bangladesh. By being the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the second in the Muslim world after Bhutto of Pakistan, she set the stage for women’s empowerment.
Khalida Zia was often accused of corruption and in 2018 she was sentenced to five years in prison.
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Bangladesh’s first female prime minister Khalida Zia dies at 80
On Tuesday, Khalida Zia, the first female prime minister of Bangladesh, has passed away at the age of 80. She died after a long illness which had kept her in the hospital for several months.
Khalida Zia was the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and played an important role in the country’s politics for many years. She had been very sick with a liver disease, and doctors had said her condition was very serious in recent days.
Dr. Ziaul Haq, one of her physicians, reported that the patient was completely relying on a ventilator and was receiving dialysis treatment at regular intervals. Unfortunately, her health was not getting better. The medical experts also said that they could not give simultaneous treatments for all her diseases, considering her old age and the many health issues.
Khalida Zia was born in 1945 and ascended to the post of Prime Minister in the wake of the murder of her spouse Ziaur Rahman, who was also the President, in 1981. As time went by, she became the principal leader of the country and was at times the head of government. Her leadership style was strong and assertive; however, she had critics and was, at times, the target of criticism during her rule.
