Former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia has died in Dhaka. She was 80 years old. “Khalida Zia passed away at around 6:00 am, just after Fajr prayers,” BNP wrote in a post on its verified Facebook page. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and BNP chairperson’s press wing official Shamsuddin Didar also confirmed his death.
Bangladesh is currently going through its worst phase. Fundamentalism and violence are at their peak in this neighboring country of India. There are reports of targeting of Hindus every day. General elections are to be held there in February. BNP leader Tariq Rahman is the frontrunner for the post of Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
After the partition of 1947, Begum Khaleda’s family moved to Dinajpur city. Her original name was Khalida Khanum Putul. Khaleda Zia studied at Dinajpur Missionary School and Dinajpur Girls School. She is married to Captain Ziaur Rehman of Pakistani Army. After marriage in 1965, Jiya went to Pakistan with her husband. Then she changed her name to Khaleda Zia.
Khaleda became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh thrice. For the first time in 1991, when she became the first woman PM of Bangladesh. She became Prime Minister for the second time in February 1996 and her third term was from 2001 to 2006. Due to her Pakistani background, Khaleda Zia always had conflicts with India. The basis of his politics was anti-India nationalism.
This can be gauged from the fact that in March 2013, when former President Pranab Mukherjee was on a visit to Dhaka, Khaleda had clearly refused to meet him. When Khaleda did this, there was UPA government in Delhi at that time. Khaleda had then said that the Congress led Delhi government was giving more importance to the Hasina government of Bangladesh.
During her tenure, Khaleda Zia gave priority to relations with Pakistan and China rather than India. Not only this, he termed the India-Bangladesh Friendship Treaty of 1972 as a treaty of slavery. Apart from this, he called the 1996 Ganga Water Sharing Treaty a ‘slavery deal’ and also opposed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Agreement.
Anti-India elements got a boost during Khaleda’s tenure. ISI created a strong presence in Dhaka. Apart from this, North-Eastern militant groups of India (like ULFA, NSCN) were also given shelter in Bangladesh.
In 2006, Zia visited India during her tenure as Prime Minister. During this time he met the then PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Her most famous visit to India was in October 2012, when she was the leader of the opposition.
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