Khaleda Zia, ex-Bangladesh PM and Sheikh Hasina rival, to be released from jail
Khaleda Zia became the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 1991. Her political career began after the assassination of her husband Ziaur Rahman.
Hours after Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and fled the country, Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of jailed opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
The decision to free Khaleda Zia was taken during a discussion with members of the opposition. President Shahabuddin decided by consensus to release the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson without delay.
The meeting was attended by army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman, the heads of the navy and air force and top leaders from opposition parties including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.
Considered a strong opponent of Sheikh Hasina, the 78-year-old Khaleda Zia is the chief of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
She became the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 1991. Her political career began after the assassination of her husband Ziaur Rahman, who was President of Bangladesh from 1977 to1981 and founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in 1978.
Zia has faced multiple health problems recently and has often traveled overseas for medical care. In 2018, she was imprisoned following a corruption conviction, which she claimed was politically driven. She served as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.
After her government's term ended in 2006, the January 2007 elections were postponed due to political violence and infighting leading to a military takeover of the caretaker government.
During its interim rule, the caretaker government charged Zia and her two sons with corruption. During her tenure from 2001 to 2005, Bangladesh was ranked as the most corrupt country in the world according to the Corruption Perceptions Index.
On 30 May 1981, Khaleda Zia's husband then President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman was assassinated. Following his death, Khaleda Zia entered politics on 2 January 1982 by joining the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which was founded by her late husband.
Earlier, Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule ended as she fled weeks of deadly protests and the military announced it would form an interim government.
Sheikh Hasina landed at Hindon Air Base in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad in a C-130 transport aircraft. Sheikh Hasina, who has maintained close ties with India since her first election in 1996, has consistently defended Dhaka’s strong relationship with Delhi.
During a visit to India in 2022, she reminded the people of Bangladesh how India, along with its government, people, and armed forces, had supported Bangladesh during the 1971 independence war.
