Staff Reporter:
BNP Acting Chairman Tareque Rahman urged everyone to pray for his mother BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.
He said in a Facebook post, “I ask you all to pray for my mother. For the profound emotion, love, and respect shown by the people of this country and by the world, my family and I remain eternally grate-ful.”
Begum Khaleda Zia, the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh, breathed her last at 6:00 am yester-day at Evercare Hospital in the capital at the age of 80. She was admitted to Evercare Hospital on No-vember 23 on the advice of her medical board.
Tareque Rahman said, “My mother Begum Khaleda Zia has responded to the call of Almighty Allah and left us yesterday. Inna lillahi…raji’un,”
“To many, she was the leader of the nation, an uncompromising leader, the Mother of Democracy, the Mother of Bangladesh,” the statement read. “Yesterday, the country mourns the loss of a guiding pres-ence that shaped its democratic aspirations,” he added.
Highlighting her lifelong struggle, the BNP Acting Chairman noted that she stood firm against autocra-cy, fascism, and domination, leading the movement for freedom, sovereignty, and the restoration of de-mocracy in Bangladesh.
Tareque Rahman remarked that her life was illuminated by sacrifice, enduring repeated arrests, denial of medical care, and relentless persecution. “Yet even in pain, confinement, and uncertainty, she never stopped sheltering her family with courage and compassion. Her resilience was not loud, but it was re-markable,” he said.
