Updated on: Dec 30, 2025 10:56 pm IST
Overnight, Zia’s body will be kept at the Evercare Hospital mortuary and will be taken to her Gulshan residence in Feroza on Wednesday morning.
The funeral of Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will be held on Wednesday in capital Dhaka after Zohr prayers, said the country’s law advisor Asif Nazrul.
Khaleda Zia died on Tuesday aged 80 after prolonged illness. “My mother is no more,” said her elder son Tarique Rahman, who is also the acting Chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP), on Tuesday morning.
Also read: What Khaleda Zia meant for Bangladesh politics
The funeral will be attended by dignitaries from across the world, including foreign minister S Jaishankar.
Here is all you need to know-
- Zia’s funeral will be held at the country’s Parliament’s South Plaza and the adjoining Manik Mia Avenue, according to Asif Nazrul after Zohr prayers, reported local media. According to The Daily Star, the funeral prayer is scheduled to take place at 2:00 pm and expected to witness a huge crowd of mourners.
- Zia will be laid to rest next to her husband, former Bangladesh President and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, at Zia Udyan in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, with full state honours, said Nazrul on Tuesday.
Also read: Taslima Nasreen says Khaleda Zia sided with jihadists, banned books: ‘Will her death end my exile?’
- Overnight, Zia’s body will be kept at the Evercare Hospital mortuary and will be taken to her Gulshan residence in Feroza on Wednesday morning, reported Dhaka Tribune.
- “Madam’s (Khaleda’s) body has been kept at the Evercare Hospital mortuary for the night. On Wednesday morning, it will be taken to her residence, Feroza,” the reported quoted BNP media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan as saying.
Also read: ‘Battle of the Begums’: Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina’s rivalry over the years
- Following that, Zia’s body will be taken to the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad, Shairul added.
- From India, external affairs minister S Jaishankar will attend Zia’s funeral in Dhaka.
- A three-day state mourning and a one-day general holiday was announced in Bangladesh following Zia’s death. “At the death of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, I declare three days of state mourning and a one-day general holiday tomorrow on the day of her Namaz-e-Janaza (funeral prayers),” said Bangladesh’s interim government chief Muhammad Yunus.
- During the three-day mourning period, no fireworks or firecrackers will be allowed in the Dhaka Metropolitan areas, said local media. Apart from fireworks, no release of sky lanterns of gas balloons will be allowed in these areas and no cultural programs will be allowed in open spaces.
- Khaleda Zia died at around 6 am on Tuesday, December 30, at the Evercare Hospital where she was receiving treatement for over a month.
