From India’s Jalpaiguri to Dhaka: Khaleda Zia’s noteworthy journey

Dhaka: Khaleda Zia, one of the most towering figures in Bangladesh’s political history and the country’s first woman Prime Minister, passed away early Tuesday morning after a prolonged illness. She was 80. A three-time Prime Minister and long-time chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Zia’s political career spanned more than four decades and left an indelible mark on the nation’s post-independence trajectory.

Born in 1945 in Jalpaiguri, then part of Greater Dinajpur in undivided India, Khaleda Zia migrated with her family to East Pakistan following the Partition of India. She largely led a private life until her marriage in 1960 to Ziaur Rahman, then a captain in the Pakistani Army. Ziaur Rahman emerged as a prominent figure during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War after revolting against Pakistani forces, a role that later propelled him into national leadership.

Ziaur Rahman became President of Bangladesh in 1977 and founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party the following year. His assassination on May 30, 1981 plunged the BNP into crisis. Amid uncertainty and factionalism, senior party leaders urged Khaleda Zia to take a leadership role. Initially reluctant, she entered politics and was appointed BNP’s vice-president in January 1984. Within months, she was elected chairperson of the party, a position she retained through successive party councils in 1993, 2009 and 2016, cementing a nearly 41-year tenure at the helm of the BNP.

Khaleda Zia rose to national prominence after the BNP’s victory in the 1991 parliamentary elections, becoming Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister. She served three terms in office—first from 1991 to 1996, again briefly in 1996 following a controversial election boycotted by major opposition parties, and a third term from 2001 to 2006 after a landslide BNP-led alliance victory.

Her years in power coincided with some of the most challenging phases in India–Bangladesh relations. Zia adopted a cautious and often adversarial stance toward New Delhi, opposing overland transit and connectivity initiatives. She argued that granting India transit access to its northeastern states through Bangladeshi territory would undermine Bangladesh’s sovereignty and security, once describing toll-free movement of Indian trucks as akin to “slavery.”

Zia also opposed the renewal of the 1972 Indo-Bangladesh Friendship Treaty, contending that it constrained Bangladesh’s independence. Her resistance extended to water-sharing issues, particularly India’s Farakka Barrage, which she claimed deprived Bangladesh of its rightful share of Ganges water. In 2007, she accused India of deliberately opening sluice gates to worsen flooding in Bangladesh.

Foreign policy decisions during her tenure further strained ties with India. In 2002, Zia pursued defence cooperation with China, prompting concern in New Delhi. India accused her government of sheltering insurgent and separatist groups operating in its northeastern states, allegations reinforced by incidents such as the 2004 Chittagong arms haul. Cooperation on counter-terrorism remained minimal during this period.

For more than three decades, Bangladeshi politics was dominated by the rivalry between Khaleda Zia and Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina. After Hasina returned to power in 2009, Zia positioned herself as a champion of democracy, leading several protest movements. She faced eviction from her residence and was placed under house arrest twice. In 2011, she was honoured by New Jersey’s State Senate as a “Fighter for Democracy.”

Zia’s later years were marked by legal battles. In February 2018, she was sentenced to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. Her sentence was suspended in March 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing her conditional release. She was fully freed in August 2024 after President Mohammed Shahabuddin granted her an exemption from the sentence.

Khaleda Zia returned to Dhaka in May this year after four months of medical treatment in London. She had been hospitalised since November with serious heart and lung complications and remained under close medical supervision until her death.

She is survived by her elder son, BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, his wife Zubaida Rahman, and their daughter Zaima Rahman. Her younger son, Arafat Rahman Koko, died several years ago in Malaysia. Tarique Rahman returned to Bangladesh on December 25 after 17 years in self-imposed exile. (IANS)

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