BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman on Thursday (January 1, 2026) thanked Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, government functionaries, dignitaries from South Asian countries and common people for attending his mother and former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia’s funeral.

Mr. Rahman also expressed his “profound gratitude” to the civilian and military institutions, law enforcers, public servants and media professionals for their “professionalism, care and dedication” in ensuring a peaceful and dignified final farewell to Zia.

Hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday (December 31, 2025) bid an emotional farewell to 80-year-old Zia, the chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who was laid to rest with state honour beside her husband Ziaur Rahman’s grave near the parliament building amid tight security.

Mr. Rahman, who returned to Bangladesh on December 25 after 17 years of self-exile in London, in a statement posted on his social media account, also promised to honour with humility and commitment his mother’s legacy of devoting “her life to serving others, day after day, with relentless dedication.”

Stating that his heart is “full of sorrow and gratitude,” as he laid his mother, his “first teacher in life,” Zia to her final rest beside his father, Mr. Rahman said, “The weight of her absence is immeasurable, but your presence, the Bangladeshi people’s, has made this profound moment feel less alone.”

He extended “heartfelt gratitude” to the senior dignitaries of countries from the South Asian region, who attended the funeral personally, and to those countries, diplomats and partners who shared their condolences with the family and the party.

“Your gestures of condolence have touched our hearts profoundly,” Mr. Rahman said.

Thanking the officers and staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said their “thoughtful efforts” helped ensure that senior dignitaries from abroad were able to personally convey the condolences of their respective countries.

“Their presence reflected the deep respect my mother was held in beyond our borders,” he added.

The long list of people and institutions that Mr. Rahman thanked comprised the officers and personnel of the Bangladesh Army, Navy, and Air Force; the men and women serving across the country’s security and law-enforcement services; individuals from the intelligence community, and the many public servants and staff working within the National Security Adviser’s office and several ministries.

“Your thoughtful coordination and steady presence helped ensure that everything was handled with care,” Rahman added.

He also thanked the domestic and international media for coverage of the funeral event “amid a vast crowd spread across several square kilometres.”

Mr. Rahman said he is “deeply moved” by the outpouring of love from friends, neighbours, well-wishers, and families who came in their millions to honour Zia’s life and legacy and said that seeing the gathering reminded him that Zia was “not only a mother to me, but in many ways a mother of this nation.”

“Today, at a time of greatest sorrow, I feel like this whole nation is my family,” he said.

“My mother devoted her life to serving others, day after day, with relentless dedication. I feel the weight of that legacy, and I promise to honour it with humility and commitment.

“Where her journey paused, I will strive to continue her work to the people whose faith and love sustained her until her last breath,” Mr. Rahman added.

Hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday (December 31, 2025) bid an emotional farewell to former Prime Minister and BNP patriarch Khaleda Zia as she was laid to rest near the parliament building amid tight security.

Zia, the three-time Prime Minister and a towering political figure, died on Tuesday (December 30, 2025) at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, several senior leaders from Pakistan, Nepal, and other neighbouring countries, diplomats and top political and military brass of Bangladesh attended Zia’s funeral at Manik Mia Avenue.

Zia’s coffin, draped in the national flag, was brought to the funeral site in a convoy from her residence. Thousands of mourners gathered outside the parliament complex to have a last glimpse of their beloved leader. Many Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters were seen carrying flags featuring Zia’s photographs.

Bangladesh’s interim government Chief Muhammad Yunus, Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, and Zia’s son and BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman were among those joining the funeral prayers.

“Please pray to Allah seeking her place in heaven,” Zia’s elder son, Mr. Rahman, told the crowd ahead of the prayers. Baitul Mokarram National Mosque’s chief cleric Mohammad Abdul Kader led the funeral prayers (namaz-e-janaza) held at the Manik Mia Avenue of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (parliament building).

BNP’s Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan read out a brief biography of Zia. Mourners from all walks of life offered prayers seeking forgiveness for the departed soul, as they burst into tears, being emotional with the passing of their beloved leader.

After the funeral prayers, she was laid to rest beside her husband’s grave with State honour at around 4:30 pm (local time).

Bhutan’s Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister Lyonpo D.N. Dhungyel joined the funeral, while the Maldives was represented by its Higher Education and Labour Minister Ali Haidar Ahmed. Ambassadors, high commissioners, and heads of international organisations stationed in Dhaka also attended Zia’s funeral prayers.

In a televised address to the nation, Chief Adviser Yunus on Tuesday (December 31, 2025) announced a three-day State mourning and a one-day general holiday.

Zia had been suffering from multiple complex and chronic health conditions, including liver and kidney complications, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and infection-related problems.

She last appeared in public on November 21 when she joined the Armed Forces Day reception at Dhaka Cantonment. Two days later, she was admitted to Evercare Hospital for routine tests, during which doctors detected a chest infection and decided to keep her under observation.

Her political journey, spanning over four decades, was one of tremendous highs and lows: from leading a major party and governing the country to being convicted on corruption charges and later receiving a presidential pardon.

Her appearance as a public figure in the political arena at the age of 35 was not a planned debut; rather, she was thrust into politics after the 1981 assassination of her husband, a military ruler turned politician who founded BNP in 1978.

In 1991, BNP won the elections, and Zia became the first woman Prime Minister in Bangladesh and second in the Muslim world after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto.

India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on Wednesday (December 31, 2025) met Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman and conveyed condolences on behalf of the Government of India on the passing away of former Prime Minister of Khaleda Zia.

Khaleda Zia funeral LIVE

This is the first visit by Mr. Jaishankar to Dhaka since the interim government took charge on August 5, 2025. The foreign affairs adviser of the interim government, Touhid Hossein was among those who met Mr. Jaishankar.

The meeting between Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Rahman in ‘Feroza’, the residence of the late Begum Zia, marks the first occasion when an Indian Minister met Mr. Rahman who returned from London on December 25, 2025 after nearly 18 years of self-exile in London where he had been based because of his disputes with the previous government of Sheikh Hasina that was deposed by a student-people uprising last year.

Mr. Jaishankar carried a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had condoled the demise of the veteran leader whom he had met in June 2015 during one of his early visits to Dhaka as the Indian PM. Amir Khosru Mahmud Choudhury, a senior member of the National Standing Committee of the BNP also interacted with Mr. Jaishankar.

Earlier on Wednesday (December 31), Zia’s mortal remains were brought to ‘Feroza’ in the Gulshan neighbourhood of capital Dhaka, where immediate family members and members of the Standing Committee of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party held prayers and paid their last respects.

Several regional and global figures are in Dhaka to pay their respects to Zia, who had been part of Bangladesh’s public life since the early 1970s when her late husband, President Ziaur Rahman, debuted in the publc life as a military figure who had rebelled against the Pakistani army and trained units of the Mukti Bahini that fought to free Bangladesh.

Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka announced in the meanwhile that Pakistan National Assembly’s Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had also reached Dhaka to participate in the funeral prayer of Begum Zia. Earlier diplomatic sources had informed that Foreign Minister of Pakistan Ishaq Dar was expected to reach Dhaka but Mr. Dar later announced that Mr. Sadique would represent Pakistan at the funeral prayers.

Mr. Rahman said, “To many, she was the leader of the nation, an uncompromising leader, the Mother of Democracy, the Mother of Bangladesh. Today, the country mourns the loss of a guiding presence that shaped its democratic aspirations.