Hundreds of thousands bid farewell as Bangladesh's ex-Premier Khaleda Zia laid to rest

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday joined the state funeral of Khaleda Zia, former prime minister and founder of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who died at 80 after a prolonged illness a day earlier.

Zia was laid to rest in the capital Dhaka, as Bangladesh observes a three-day national mourning. The South Asian nation's first female premier died on Tuesday after being on life support at a hospital in Dhaka.

People from across the country joined the funeral of Zia, occupying a few kilometers of road around the main venue in front of the national parliament in Dhaka.

“Khaleda Zia’s health and half of her life was destroyed in jail during the last Sheikh Hasina government, as she (Zia) had been denied proper treatment and calls for sending her abroad for treatment were rejected,” Shah Alam, a BNP activist, told Anadolu.

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, Zia's son Tarique Rahman, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman were among those who attended the funeral.

Rahman had been living in the UK since 2008 and returned home last week after 17 years of exile.

Pakistan parliament speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and top government representatives from Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives were among foreign representatives at the state funeral.

Zia’s body was buried near the grave of her husband and former President Ziaur Rahman in Dhaka.

Zia’s health deteriorated significantly during her imprisonment under the Awami League government led by Hasina, which was ousted last year, according to the BNP. Hasina later fled to India and is now a fugitive.

Zia's death came at a time when Bangladesh is moving toward general elections in February next year. Yunus has been leading the interim government since Hasina fled the country last year in August.

Separately, Pakistani top lawmaker Ayaz Sadiq and Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar also met while the two, among other foreign delegates, were present at Bangladesh’s parliament to extend condolences, according to a brief statement by Pakistan's National Assembly on US social media company X.

The two shook hands, marking the first such high-level contact since May hostilities between the two South Asian nuclear neighbors.