Jaishankar to represent India at the funeral of former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia

Khaleda Zia, 80, died early on Tuesday at a hospital in Dhaka, where she was being treated for an infection in her heart and lungs.

Updated on: Dec 30, 2025, 19:06:59 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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India will be represented at the funeral of former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday.

Khaleda Zia served as prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and returned to office for a second term from 2001 to 2006. (REUTERS)

Khaleda, Bangladesh's first woman premier and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), died after a prolonged illness in a hospital in Dhaka early on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the leaders who condoled her death, recalling her important contributions to India-Bangladesh ties.

Jaishankar will visit Dhaka on December 31 for the funeral, the external affairs ministry said in a brief statement.

Leaders of several regional countries, including Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar, are expected to participate in the funeral.

The funeral prayers for Khaleda will be offered at the Parliament complex in Dhaka and she will be buried beside the grave of her husband, former military ruler Ziaur Rahman, at his mausoleum.

The decision to send Jaishankar to represent India at the funeral comes at a time when bilateral ties are at a fresh low following weeks of acrimonious exchanges between New Delhi and Dhaka.

Relations nose-dived after the caretaker administration led by Muhammad Yunus assumed office in August 2024, and the two sides recently clashed over the lynching of a Hindu man in Mymensingh and unsubstantiated claims by Bangladeshi officials that the killers of radical student leader Sharif Osman Hadi had sneaked into India.

The government decided to go ahead with Jaishankar’s participation in the funeral despite concerns in some quarters that student groups and anti-India elements could organise protests during his visit, people familiar with the matter said.

Jaishankar’s visit is also being seen as part of New Delhi’s outreach to the BNP, which is expected to emerge as the single largest party in Bangladesh’s upcoming general election scheduled for February 12. India-Bangladesh relations were marked by strains when the party was in power in the 1990s and early 2000s, but BNP leaders have signalled a new approach to ties with New Delhi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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