Illustration of Khaleda Zia

Early morning of May 30, 1981, clouds from the Bay of Bengal lashed Chittagong. Through the heavy pitter-patter of rain on the roof of the Circuit House of Chittagong, President Ziaur Rahman heard the sound of gunfire. A man of action known for his bravery as a Pakistani soldier in the 1965 India-Pakistan war and later as a nationalist officer who rebelled against the Pakistani Army in 1971, Rahman was not someone to hide. Dressed in his night suit, Rahman came out to check the source of the gun fire and just then a hail of bullets literally sliced him into two halves.

The killers, however, failed in their plot to seize power as Abdus Sattar, a seasoned political figure, quickly took charge as President with Army Chief Hossein Mohammed Ershad’s support.

It was in this dramatic situation that Khaleda Zia, widow of Rahman, entered the political spectrum. She had reportedly fainted on hearing the news of the assassination of Rahman, but two and a half years later, Ms. Zia took over from Abdus Sattar. On January 13, 1984, Ms. Zia took charge of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that was founded by Rahman.

The death of Rahman also came at a critical time for the volatile country. On May 17, Mujib’s daughter Sheikh Hasina returned to Bangladesh.

Ms. Zia and Ms. Hasina came from different backgrounds. The former was the young wife of a Bengali officer in the Pakistani military and Ms. Hasina was the daughter of a firebrand anti-Pakistan figure. But in 1984, the two emerged as leaders of the two political alliances that opposed President Ershad.

Ms. Zia led a seven-party alliance and Ms. Hasina led a 15-party alliance against Ershad. In 1986, Ershad held a fraudulent election. Infuriated by the sham polling, the two alliances joined hands and finally dislodged Ershad from power in 1990.

After the fall of Ershad, the February 1991 election was won by the BNP and Ms. Zia, also known as Begum Khaleda, became the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh. But even as Ms. Zia was getting a grasp of the problems, a monstrous cyclonic storm killed nearly half a million people. Ms. Hasina sensed an opportunity and termed the BNP government incompetent. Despite the opposition, the BNP managed to win the 1996 election but had to give up power after the Awami League accused it of rigging the polls. Then Ms. Hasina became PM for the first time.

From 1991 till 2006, Ms. Zia dominated Bangladesh’s politics, along with her rival Ms. Hasina. She returned to power with the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh at the turn of the century and remained in office till 2006.

Boycott of elections

Though Ms. Zia was kept out of power by Ms. Hasina during the next 15 years, the BNP remained strong on the ground. While Ms. Zia took a backseat during the Hasina era, the day-to-day affairs of the party were handled by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Amir Khasru Mahmud Choudhury, who maintained the combative attitude of the party which boycotted election thrice — 2014, 2018 and 2024.

After being freed from detention following the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, 2024, Ms. Zia reiterated that she does not harbour any ill-will towards the currently exiled Ms. Hasina, giving a hint that she is waiting and watching how long the interim government led by Mohammad Yunus would last. While the BNP boycotted polls in the past, it is also known that the Hasina regime did not stop doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital in the U.S. from flying into Dhaka to conduct a complex surgery on Ms. Zia in 2021.

With Hasina out of Bangladesh and the BNP enthused by the prospects of returning to power, Ms. Zia, 79, is once again in the limelight, but this time she is far more cautious. Earlier this month, an air ambulance from Qatar flew her for special medical care in London where she was reunited with her elder son Tarique Rahman who has been in exile since he was reportedly tortured by the military during the 2006-08 caretaker rule. Last week, Ms. Zia was acquitted in a 2008 corruption case, overturning a previous 10-year sentence.

In Bangladesh’s fractious politics, Ms. Zia has been seen as a survivor. And her tactics will be tested once again whenever the interim government calls for elections.

The new textbooks for primary and secondary students have several changes, The Daily Star newspaper said. The textbooks also removed the title “Father of the Nation” for Mujibur Rahman. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Bangladesh has introduced new textbooks that state that Ziaur Rahman declared the country’s independence in 1971, replacing the previous ones crediting founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with the declaration, according to a media report.

The new textbooks for primary and secondary students have several changes, The Daily Star newspaper said. The textbooks also removed the title “Father of the Nation” for Mujibur Rahman.

The new textbooks for the 2025 academic year will state that “on March 26, 1971, Ziaur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh, and on March 27, he made another declaration of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu,” the paper quoted Prof AKM Reazul Hassan, chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, as saying.

“The information has been included in the free textbooks where the matter of the declaration was mentioned,” he added.

According to the paper, writer and researcher Rakhal Raha, who was involved in the process of making changes in the textbooks, said they tried to free the textbooks from “exaggerated, imposed history”.

“Those who revised the textbooks found that it wasn’t fact-based information that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sent the wireless message (declaring independence) while being arrested by the Pakistani army, and so they decided to remove it.”

Earlier, in the textbooks of classes one to 10, the information on who made the Declaration of Independence was changed according to the government in power, the paper said.

It is widely believed among supporters of Awami League that Mujibur Rahman had made the announcement and that Ziaur Rahman, who was an Army major and later a sector commander of the Liberation War, merely read out the declaration upon Mujib’s instructions.

Earlier, Bangladesh decided to start the process of erasing the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from its currency notes as it phases out the old notes.

The move came after the ouster of his daughter Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister on August 5. His statues and murals bearing his image were targeted as his daughter fled to India.

The interim government also cancelled a national holiday on August 15, marking the assassination of Mujibur Rahman.

Dhaka:

Bangladesh has introduced new textbooks stating that Ziaur Rahman declared the country’s independence in 1971, replacing the previous ones crediting founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with the declaration, according to a media report.

The new textbooks for primary and secondary students have several changes, The Daily Star newspaper said. The textbooks also removed the title “Father of the Nation” for Mujibur Rahman.

The new textbooks for the 2025 academic year will state that “on March 26, 1971, Ziaur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh, and on March 27, he made another declaration of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu,” the paper quoted Prof AKM Reazul Hassan, chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, as saying.

The information has been included in the free textbooks where the matter of the declaration was mentioned, he added.

According to the paper, writer and researcher Rakhal Raha, who was involved in the process of making changes in the textbooks, said they tried to free the textbooks from “exaggerated, imposed history”.

“Those who revised the textbooks found that it wasn’t fact-based information that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sent the wireless message [declaring independence] while being arrested by the Pakistani army, and so they decided to remove it.” Earlier, in the textbooks of classes one to 10, the information on who made the Declaration of Independence was changed according to the government in power, the paper said.

It is widely believed among supporters of Awami League that Mujibur Rahman had made the announcement and that Ziaur Rahman, who was an Army major and later a sector commander of the Liberation War, merely read out the declaration upon Mujib’s instructions. Earlier, Bangladesh decided to start the process of erasing the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from its currency notes as it phases out the old notes.

The move came after the ouster of his daughter Sheikh Hasina as prime minister on August 5. His statues and murals bearing his image were targeted as his daughter fled to India.

The interim government also cancelled a national holiday on August 15, marking the assassination of Mujibur Rahman.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The story so far: On August 6, a day after Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and left Bangladesh, Khaleda Zia, the ailing ex-Prime Minister of the South Asian country of 170 million was released on President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s orders. The 79-year-old chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been under house arrest since March 25, 2020, serving a 17-year prison term in two graft cases since February 8, 2018.

Ms. Zia was released after a meeting held between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military chiefs, political parties, representatives of civil society and leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, reported Bangladeshi news outletThe Daily Star. The ex-PM has several health issues, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes and heart issues.

In October 2023, the 17-doctor panel treating the BNP chief had claimed that she was at “high risk” of dying without urgent medical intervention abroad. However, the Hasina government had refused to permit her to leave the country. As per a conditional release sanctioned during a COVID-19 outbreak, Ms. Zia is not allowed to leave her residence in Dhaka’s Gulshan area.

With the Bangladesh parliament dissolved, the nation is headed for fresh elections to be held under a caretaker government, a mere six months after Ms. Hasina won the last one in a landslide.

Here’s a look at Ms. Hasina’s arch-rival Khaleda Zia and her political legacy.

1982: Joins BNP as a member

After the assassination of her husband and former military president General Ziaur Rahman in a military rebellion, Khaleda Zia entered active politics by joining the BNP and taking charge as vice-president, within a year.

1983-1990: Spearheads the anti-Ershad movement

Gen. Rahman was replaced by Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who ruled Bangladesh under martial law for eight years. Opposing military rule, Ms. Zia took to the streets along with her party members to mob the Secretriat building in Dhaka. Taking charge as BNP chief in 1984, Ms. Zia headed several rallies and protests against the Ershad regime, which had imposed a stringent curfew, and scrapped social schemes and secular principles from the Constitution.

Stitching a coalition with like-minded Islamic parties, Ms. Zia formed a ‘seven-party alliance.’ Allying with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL), which headed a 15-party alliance, and the five-party Left coalition, Ms. Zia demanded an end to military rule. She was detained several times by the police and even placed under house arrest throughout the military rule.

In 1986, when the Ershad regime announced elections, Ms. Zia demanded the formation of a caretaker government to hold ‘free and fair’ polls. However, as the military government did not accede, the BNP boycotted the polls while the AL participated in the elections and emerged as the primary Opposition. The newly-elected Parliament lasted only a year as all AL members resigned and Ms. Hasina demanded free elections under a caretaker government.

As the military once again elected Gen. Ershad as the President, Ms. Zia joined hands with Ms. Hasina to launch a nationwide protest demanding an end to military rule. In the face of public outcry, Gen. Ershad resigned in December 1990, passing the charge to acting President Shahabuddin Ahmed to conducting ‘free and fair’ elections.

1991: First term as Prime Minister

The elections held on February 27, 1991 elected a ‘neutral’ ‘Jatiya Sangsad’ (national parliament), awarding BNP a slim victory. Winning 141 of the 300 directly-elected parliamentary seats, Ms. Zia was sworn in as Bangladesh’s first woman Prime Minister on March 20, 1991.

Under her first term, a bipartisan law – the 12th amendment – was passed by the Parliament to establish a parliamentary system in Bangladesh. Under this law, a House of directly-elected representatives, a council of ministers headed by the Prime Minister accountable to the Jatiya Sangsad, a constitutional head of state (President) to be voted by the Jatiya Sangsad and an independent judiciary was established. Her government also passed laws to make primary education compulsory and establish a coast guard, and also introduced a free market economy.

However, her government received a jolt in 1994, when Ms. Hasina, along with many AL members, resigned from the Parliament, accusing the Zia government of widespread corruption and rigging of by-elections. Refusing to pass the charge to a caretaker government to hold polls, Ms. Zia proposed a non-partisan advisory council headed by the President to oversee elections. With the AL boycotting the 1996 polls, Ms. Zia was re-elected for a second time in an election which saw only a 21% voter turnout.

Amid growing demands for fresh elections, Ms. Zia’s government passed the thirteenth Amendment to the constitution, allowing the formation of a neutral caretaker government to allow peaceful transfer of power and provide a level playing field to all political parties during elections. After a short, twelve-day term, Ms. Zia resigned and handed over power to a caretaker government headed by former Chief Justice Mohammad Habibur Rahman.

1996-2001: First term as LoP

Bangladesh awarded Ms. Hasina the mandate in the June 1996 polls, with AL winning 146 of the 300 seats, followed by BNP, which won 116 seats, and the Jatiya National Party (JP), led by the then-incarcerated Mr. Ershad, which won 32 seats.

Stitching a four-party alliance with Islamic parties like Jamaat-i-Islami Bangladesh, Islami Oikya Jote and Gen. Ershad’s JP, the BNP launched an anti-corruption movement against the Sheikh Hasina government. Ahead of the 2001 elections, JP exited the four-party alliance; a splinter faction headed by Naziur Rahman Manju remained with BNP.

2001-2006: Third term as PM

In the 2001 elections, the BNP-led four-party alliance won a landslide victory, winning 215 seats. Ms. Zia’s term, however, was marred by rising Islamic militancy, unchecked corruption, abuse of power, and erosion of democracy within BNP. According to The Daily Star, Ms. Zia had “stacked her party leadership and cabinet posts with her sons, nephews and other relatives,” promoting widespread nepotism. With her two sons in government, she allowed more radical and criminal members in the alliance government to rule unchecked with minimum accountability, critics alleged.

Ms. Zia’s reported patronage of Siddique ul-Islam alias Bangla Bhai, who was pivotal in forming the militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), marred her term in 2005. On August 17, 2005, 469 near-simultaneous bomb blasts occurred in 63 locations across Bangladesh, killing two and injuring over a hundred.

Her aligning with the Jamaat-i-Islami, which had opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, also caused controvesy. Further, she has declared August 15 – the day when Mujibur Rahman and most of his immediate family members were killed in a military coup— as her birthdate, which has been considered an insult to the Awami League founder who has been named ‘Father of the Nation.’ She has also shown no documents backing this day as her date of birth and has been slapped with multiple cases for questioning Bangladesh’s independence history. She has also remained skeptical of the number of martyrs in the liberation war.

During her last term as PM, she implemented free education for girls, established the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and conducted free examinations.

2006-2008: Stalemate over caretaker PM and arrest

Ahead of the 2006 polls, the BNP and AL failed to agree on a candidate to head the caretaker government. Ending the stalemate, President Iajuddin Ahmed declared himself as caretaker PM and announced elections to be held in January 2007. With the AL accusing the caretaker government of a bias towards the BNP government, Sheikh Hasina announced a boycott of the polls and Bangladesh was placed under a state of emergency.

The military-run government headed by then-Army Chief Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed initiated a ‘fight against corruption’ and arrested both Ms. Hasina and Ms. Zia for alleged bribery and corruption. After months of incarceration along with other members of the Zia family, Ms. Zia was released in September 2007. In the following elections held in December 2008, the BNP only managed to secure 29 seats – marking the start of the fall of BNP.

2009 onwards: Sheikh Hasina wins four consecutive terms

In 2009, Sheikh Hasina began her second term as Prime Minister with an absolute majority of 263 seats. She passed the fifteenth amendment which scrapped the thirteenth amendment, ending the constitutional need for transferring power to a ‘neutral caretaker government.’ This ensured her continuous wins in consecutive elections in 2014, 2019 and now 2024. Ms. Zia and BNP have boycotted all the above elections, insisting that a ‘neutral caretaker government’ was necessary for free elections.

In 2010, the Sheikh Hasina government cancelled the allotment of late Gen. Rahman’s house in Dhaka’s Cantonment area to his widow. Vacating the palatial Army bungalow, Ms. Zia retained her residence in the city’s Gulshan area.

Prior to the 2014 polls, Ms. Zia was first put under house arrest. Later in February 2018, Ms. Zia was sentenced to a five-year imprisonment term for embezzlement of funds meant for an orphanage trust. The term was then increased to ten years by the court. Later in October that year, she was also sentenced to seven years in jail in a case involving a charity fund named after her late husband. The BNP claimed that the cases were politically biased, but failed to gain public support to pressure the Sheikh Hasina government.

Due to her conviction, Ms. Zia has been barred from contesting polls, as the Constitution prohibits the participation of a convicted person sentenced to over two years in prison. In the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, Ms. Zia was conditionally released from jail for six months, but told to remain at her Gulshan residence. Repeated requests by her doctors to transport her to facilities abroad had been rejected by the Sheikh Hasina government.

Her release amid the current political crisis in Bangladesh has raised hopes for the BNP to regain its political stature in the country. With several BNP members in talks with the military and students in forming a caretaker government, a fresh election without Sheikh Hasina’s influence may signify a turn of luck for Khaleda Zia, who still heads the BNP.