Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia passes away
INTERNATIONAL – ASIA
1 JANUARY 2026
- The passing of Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia leaves an “irreplaceable void” but her “vision and legacy” will continue to nurture India-Bangladesh relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a letter that was handed over by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)’s Acting Chairman and son of Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman in Dhaka.
- This is the first visit by Mr. Jaishankar to Dhaka since the interim government took charge in August 2024.
- Three-time former Prime Minister Begum Zia died at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness.
- She was buried at the Jatiya Sansad in Dhaka.
- Mr. Tarique Rahman returned from London on December 25, 2025 after nearly 18 years of self-exile in London.
- On August 5, 2024, then Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and rival of Khaleda Zia, resigned and fled to India following a massive student-led uprising known as the “July Revolution“.
- In November 2025, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia for “crimes against humanity” related to the violent crackdown on protesters that killed an estimated 1,400 people.
- Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in New Delhi, India, living in a high-security safe house provided by the Indian government.
- India has so far declined extradition requests from the interim government.
- The Bangladesh interim government, established on August 8, 2024, is led by Chief Adviser and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
- Hasina’s party Awami League remains banned from participating in the 2026 elections until legal proceedings regarding the 2024 violence are concluded.
- The contest is primarily between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and an 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP).
