Khaleda Zia, first female prime minister of Bangladesh, dies at 80

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) president Begum Khaleda Zia waves to activists as she arrives for a rally in Dhaka. Andrew Biraj/Reuters Khaleda Zia, who became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister in 1991 and developed a bitter rivalry with Sheikh Hasina during decades of alternation in power, died on Tuesday morning in the country’s capital, Dhaka (local time). She was 80 years old. Her opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said she died after a long illness. Her doctors said she suffered from advanced liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes and heart and lung problems. 📱Download the g1 app to see news in real time and for free She traveled to London for medical treatment in early 2025, where she stayed for four months before returning to the country. Although Khaleda had been out of power since 2006 and had spent several years in prison or house arrest, she and her center-right party, the BNP, continued to enjoy strong popular support. See the videos that are trending on g1 The BNP is considered the favorite to win the parliamentary elections scheduled for February. His son and acting party president, Tarique Rahman, 60, returned to the country last week after nearly 17 years of self-exile and is widely seen as a strong candidate to become prime minister. Since August 2024, following a student uprising that led to Hasina’s ouster, Bangladesh has been governed by an interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and microfinance pioneer. In November, Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia for her violent suppression of student protests. Known only by her first name, Khaleda was described as shy and dedicated to raising her two children until her husband, military leader and then-president Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in an attempted military coup in 1981. Three years later, she became the leader of the BNP, the party founded by her husband, and vowed to fulfill her goal of “liberating Bangladesh from poverty and economic backwardness.” She joined forces with Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father and leader of the Awami League party, to lead a popular uprising for democracy that overthrew military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad in 1990. Battle of the Begums But their cooperation did not last long. The bitter rivalry has led to the nickname “Battle of the Begums” – an expression that uses an Urdu honorific for prominent women. Her supporters saw her as polite and traditional yet quietly elegant, someone who chose her words carefully. But they also considered her a bold and uncompromising leader when it came to defending her party and confronting her rivals. Hasina, on the other hand, was much more outspoken and assertive. Their opposing personalities helped fuel the rivalry that dominated Bangladeshi politics for decades. In 1991, Bangladesh held what was hailed as its first free election. Khaleda won a surprise victory over Hasina, having won the support of the country’s largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami. In doing so, Khaleda became the first woman to serve as prime minister of Bangladesh and only the second woman to lead a democratic government of a predominantly Muslim nation, after Benazir Bhutto, who was elected to lead Pakistan three years earlier. Khaleda replaced the presidential system with a parliamentary one, so that power resided with the prime minister. She also eliminated restrictions on foreign investment and made primary education compulsory and free. She lost to Hasina in the 1996 general election, but returned five years later with a surprising landslide victory. Do you have a suggestion for a report? Talk to g1 His second term was marked by the rise of Islamic militants and allegations of corruption. In 2004, a rally at which Hasina was speaking was hit by grenades. Hasina survived, but more than 20 people died and more than 500 were injured. Khaleda’s government and its Islamist allies were widely blamed. In 2018, after Hasina resumed Bangladesh’s top job, Rahman was tried in absentia and sentenced to life in prison for the attack. The BNP denounced the trial as politically motivated. Detention and freedom Although Khaleda later cracked down on radical Islamic groups, her second term as prime minister ended in 2006 when a military-backed interim government took power amid political instability and street violence. The interim government jailed Khaleda and Hasina on charges of corruption and abuse of power for about a year before they were both released before the 2008 general elections. Khaleda never regained power. With the BNP boycotting the 2014 and 2024 elections, its bitter dispute with Hasina has continued to dominate Bangladeshi politics. Tension between the two parties often led to strikes, violence and deaths, hampering economic development in Bangladesh, a poor country of about 175 million people, situated in a low-lying area and prone to devastating floods. In 2018, Khaleda, Rahman and their aides were convicted of stealing about $250,000 in foreign donations received by an orphanage fund set up when she was prime minister — charges she said were part of a plan to keep her and her family out of politics. She was arrested but transferred to house arrest in March 2020 on humanitarian grounds due to her deteriorating health. Khaleda was released from house arrest in August 2024, following Hasina’s ouster. In early 2025, Khaleda and Rahman were acquitted by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in the corruption case that resulted in the 2018 prison sentences. Rahman had been acquitted of the 2004 grenade attack on Hasina a month earlier.

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