Politics
Bangladesh mourns ex-PM Khaleda Zia with state funeral
Bangladesh bade farewell on Wednesday to former prime minister Khaleda Zia in a state funeral drawing vast crowds, mourning a towering leader whose career defined politics for decades.
Khaleda, the first woman to serve as prime minister in the South Asian nation of 170 million people, died on Tuesday aged 80.
Flags were flown at half-mast, and thousands of security officers lined the streets as her body was carried through the streets of the capital Dhaka in a vehicle in the colours of the national flag.
Large crowds had gathered outside parliament — many waving national flags or those of Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — where the funeral prayers were held at around 3pm local time, according to Dhaka-based Daily Star.
Khaleda was laid to rest alongside her late husband, Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1981 during his time as president. The burial took place at around 4:30pm local time, Daily Star reported.
Seventy-year-old retired government official Minhaz Uddin, who was attending Khaleda’s funeral, said he had never voted for her, but came to honour the three-time prime minister.
“I came here with my grandson, just to say goodbye to a veteran politician whose contributions will always be remembered,” he said, watching from behind a barbed wire barricade as her body passed by.
“Khaleda Zia has been an inspiration,” mourner Sharmina Siraj told AFP, adding that “it is difficult to imagine women in leadership positions anytime soon”.
The 40-year-old mother of two said stipends introduced by Khaleda to support girls’ education “had a huge impact on the lives of our girls”.
NA speaker meets family, expresses condolences
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who is in Bangladesh for the funeral, visited the residence of the former Bangladeshi prime minister, where he met her son and daughter.
According to a statement issued by the NA Secretariat, Sadiq expressed his condolences at the passing of their mother.
“In this hour of grief and sorrow, the government and the people of Pakistan stand with you,” he was quoted as saying. The family of the late premier thanked Sadiq for his condolences.
The NA speaker also met the country’s national security adviser, Khalilur Rehman, the statement said.
It said that Sadiq “conveyed a message of sympathy and condolences on behalf of the residents and prime minister of Pakistan”.
The speaker also met the adviser for law, justice and parliamentary affairs of Bangladesh, Asif Nazrul, where the two discussed matters of mutual interest.
Later, a post on the NA‘s X account said Sadiq also had an interaction with Indian Foreign Minister Dr S, Jaishankar at Bangladesh’s parliament.
‘Legacy lives on’
Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Khaleda had vowed to campaign in elections set for 12 February — the first vote since a mass uprising toppled her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina last year.
Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party is widely seen as a frontrunner, and her son Tarique Rahman, 60, who returned only last week after 17 years in exile, is seen as a potential prime minister if they win a majority.
“She is no more, but her legacy lives on — and so does the BNP,” said Jenny Parvez, 37, who travelled for several hours with her family to watch the funeral cortege pass her on the street.
The interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, declared three days of national mourning and an elaborate state funeral.
Yunus said Bangladesh had “lost a great guardian”.
‘Unbreakable’
Tarique Rahman said in a statement that “the country mourns the loss of a guiding presence that shaped its democratic aspirations”.
His mother, he added, “endured repeated arrests, denial of medical care, and relentless persecution”, but that “her resilience … was unbreakable.”
Suffering from a raft of health issues, Khaleda was rushed to hospital in late November, where her condition had gradually deteriorated despite treatment.
Nevertheless, hours before her death, party workers had on Monday submitted nomination papers on her behalf for three constituencies for next year’s polls.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hoped Khaleda’s “vision and legacy will continue to guide our partnership”, a warm message despite the strained relations between New Delhi and Dhaka since Hasina’s fall.
- Jamaat-e-Islami says party held talks with other groups.
- JI chief says anti-corruption must be shared agenda.
- Rahman says party will decide who will be its PM candidate.
DHAKA: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), once-banned Bangladeshi party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief told Reuters on Wednesday.
Opinion polls suggest that JI will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years, as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
JI last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” JI Ameer (President) Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Anti-corruption plank
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the February 12 election, he added. If JI wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, said Rahman.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024. Hasina, whose Awami League party is now barred from the election, was a fierce critic of JI, and during her tenure, several of its leaders were sentenced to death.
JI had been banned from elections since 2013 after a court ruled its charter violated the country’s secular constitution. An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus lifted all restrictions on the party in August 2024.
Ties with India and Pakistan
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
As New Delhi seeks to engage parties that could form the next government, Rahman confirmed meeting an Indian diplomat earlier this year after his bypass surgery.
Unlike diplomats from other countries who made open courtesy visits to him, the Indian official asked that the meeting remain confidential, Rahman said.
“Why? There are so many diplomats who visited me and it was made public. Where is the problem?” Rahman said. “So we must become open to all and open to each other. There is no alternative to develop our relationship.”
India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rahman’s statement about the meeting or any request for it to be confidential.
An Indian government source confirmed contacts with various parties, and India’s foreign minister visited Dhaka on Wednesday to offer condolences to the family of BNP chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who died on Tuesday.
Asked about JI’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all. We are never interested in leaning toward any one country. Rather, we respect all and want balanced relations among nations.”
He said any government that includes JI would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
Shahabuddin, the ceremonial head of the country, himself told Reuters this month that he was willing to step down midway through his term.
Shahabuddin, in a telephone conversation with Reuters on Wednesday, declined to comment on Rahman’s position, saying he did not want to “complicate the matter further”.
Russia’s defence ministry published a video on Wednesday of a downed drone that it said Ukraine launched at President Vladimir Putin´s residence in northwest Russia this week — a claim Kyiv has branded a “lie”.
Moscow made the allegation shortly after Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with US President Donald Trump in Florida and Kyiv has called it a “fabrication” intended to “manipulate” the peace process.
The European Union also said the video was an attempt to “derail” peace efforts.
But Russia has called it a “terrorist attack” and a “personal attack” against Putin, saying it will toughen its negotiation stance in Ukraine war talks.
The video, shot at night in the dark, showed a damaged drone lying in snow in a forested area. The ministry said the alleged attack was “targeted, carefully planned and carried out in stages”.
Russia has not said where Putin was at the time, claiming the attack was launched on the night of December 28-29 at Putin’s home in the Novgorod region. His residences are normally kept a close secret.
The defence ministry said the attack started around 7pm on December 28 and was a “mass” drone launch at Putin’s residence, but said the longtime leader’s home was not damaged.
It also published a video with a man it called a witness, saying he was a local villager from the settlement of Roshchino.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which documents the Ukraine-Russia conflict, said Tuesday it had not seen any “footage or reporting that typically follows Ukrainian deep strikes to corroborate the Kremlin’s claims of Ukrainian strikes threatening Putin’s residence in Novgorod Oblast”.
Russian officials have rallied around Putin since the claim. The Russian leader, in power since December 1999, has told Russians in recent weeks that Moscow intends to seize the rest of Ukrainian land he has proclaimed as Russian by force if diplomacy fails.
“Kremlin officials are using the alleged Ukrainian strike against Novgorod Oblast to justify Russia´s continued insistence that both Ukraine and the West capitulate to Russia´s original demands from 2021 and 2022,” the ISW said this week.
- Thousands gather in Dhaka to bid farewell to Khaleda Zia.
- Flags at half-mast as Bangladesh honours ex-PM Khaleda Zia.
- Muhammad Yunus says Bangladesh had “lost a great guardian”.
Bangladesh bid farewell on Wednesday to former prime minister Khaleda Zia in a state funeral that drew vast crowds mourning a towering leader whose career defined the country´s politics for decades.
Zia, the first woman to serve as prime minister in the South Asian nation of 170 million people, died on Tuesday, aged 80.
Flags were flown at half-mast, and thousands of security officers lined roads as her body was carried through the streets of the capital Dhaka by a vehicle in the colours of the national flag.
A sea of mourners gathered outside parliament and packed streets leading to it, many waving national flags as well as those of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), before prayers held over her coffin.
National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq also reached Dhaka to attend the funeral prayer of the former Bangladeshi prime minister.
Retired government official Minhaz Uddin, 70, said he had never voted for her, but came to honour the three-time prime minister.
“I came here with my grandson, just to say goodbye to a veteran politician whose contributions will always be remembered,” he said, watching from behind a barbed wire barricade as her body passed by.
“Khaleda Zia has been an inspiration,” mourner Sharmina Siraj told AFP, adding that “it is difficult to imagine women in leadership positions anytime soon”.
The 40-year-old mother of two said stipends introduced by Zia to support girls’ education “had a huge impact on the lives of our girls”.
‘Legacy lives on’
Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia had vowed to campaign in elections set for February 12 — the first vote since a mass uprising toppled her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina last year.
Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely seen as a frontrunner, and her son Tarique Rahman, 60, who returned only last week after 17 years in exile, is seen as a potential prime minister if they win a majority.
“She is no more, but her legacy lives on — and so does the BNP,” said Jenny Parvez, 37, who travelled for several hours with her family to watch the funeral cortege pass her on the street.
The interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, declared three days of national mourning and an elaborate state funeral.
Large crowds gathered outside parliament — many waving national or BNP flags — where her coffin is expected around 2:00pm (0800 GMT), and when prayers will begin.
Yunus said Bangladesh had “lost a great guardian”.
Zia’s body will be interred alongside her late husband, Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1981 during his time as president.
‘Unbreakable’
Tarique Rahman said in a statement that “the country mourns the loss of a guiding presence that shaped its democratic aspirations”.
His mother, he added, “endured repeated arrests, denial of medical care, and relentless persecution”, but that “her resilience… was unbreakable.”
Suffering from a raft of health issues, Zia was rushed to hospital in late November, where her condition had gradually deteriorated despite treatment.
Nevertheless, hours before her death, party workers had on Monday submitted nomination papers on her behalf for three constituencies for next year´s polls.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hoped Zia’s “vision and legacy will continue to guide our partnership”, a warm message despite the strained relations between New Delhi and Dhaka since Hasina’s fall.
Hasina, 78, sentenced to death in absentia in November for crimes against humanity, remains in hiding in her old ally India.
Zia was jailed for corruption in 2018 under Hasina´s government, which also blocked her from travelling abroad for medical treatment.
Zia was released last year, shortly after Hasina was forced from power.
“I pray for the eternal peace and forgiveness of Begum Khaleda Zia´s soul,” Hasina said, in a statement shared on social media by her now-banned Awami
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