External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent the Government and people of India at the funeral of Begum Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister of Bangladesh and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He will travel to Dhaka on Wednesday to attend the last rites, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Khaleda Zia passed away early on Tuesday at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka after a prolonged illness. She was 80. International and Indian news agencies reported that she had been under medical care for several weeks, with complications involving her heart and lungs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences, describing Zia as a historic leader whose contributions to Bangladesh and India–Bangladesh ties would be remembered. The Prime Minister recalled his meeting with her in 2015 and conveyed sympathy to her family and the people of Bangladesh.
Khaleda Zia, the widow of former president Ziaur Rahman, served two terms as Bangladesh’s prime minister and was the country’s first woman to hold the office. Her long political career was marked by periods of influence as well as intense rivalry with Sheikh Hasina. Reports say she had been battling multiple chronic ailments, and doctors had advised against overseas travel in recent weeks because of her fragile condition.
