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NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar will attend the funeral of Bangladesh’s former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia in Dhaka tomorrow, the ministry if external affairs said on Tuesday.”The external affairs minister, Dr. S Jaishankar will represent the government and people of India at the funeral of Begum Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. He will accordingly visit Dhaka on 31 December 2025,” the statement from MEA read.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi mourned Zia’s death, saying that as the first woman premier of Bangladesh, her important contributions towards the development of the country, as well as India-Bangladesh relations, will always be remembered. PM Modi also recalled his “warm meeting” with her in Dhaka in 2015. “We hope that her vision and legacy will continue to guide our partnership,” he said.Zia who was Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister and also the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, passed away on Tuesday. She was 80. She played a major role in restoring democracy after a period of tumultuous military rule and dominated the country’s politics for decades. Her long political career, marked by periods in prison and house arrest, was shaped by a fierce rivalry with Hasina. She was cleared of corruption charges and permitted to travel to London for medical treatment only after Hasina’s exit from office.She was planning to contest the February parliamentary elections, which will be Bangladesh’s first polls since the popular uprising in late 2024 that removed Sheikh Hasina from power.The BNP is widely seen as a strong contender in the upcoming elections following the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government which had maintained close ties with New Delhi.
