Zia, Khaleda << ZEE uh, kah LEED uh >> (1945-…), served as prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, and again from 2001 to 2006. As prime minister, she led the national government. Zia was the first woman prime minister of Bangladesh.
Khaleda Kanam Putul was born in 1945 in what is now Dinajpur, Bangladesh, then part of India. Her father was a businessman. In 1960, she married Ziaur Rahman, an army officer, and took the surname Zia. Ziaur Rahman became chief martial law administrator of Bangladesh in 1976, and president of the country in 1977. After her husband was assassinated in 1981, Zia became involved in politics. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which her husband had founded, appointed her vice chairperson of the party in 1983. One year later, she became chairperson.
Zia led the BNP during its struggle against the military government of Lieutenant General H. M. Ershad, who ruled Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990. During Ershad’s rule, Zia was arrested seven times. In 1990, massive demonstrations led to Ershad’s resignation. Free elections resumed, and the BNP emerged as the majority party in Parliament following the 1991 election. After her party lost a parliamentary election in 1996, Zia became the opposition leader.
The 2001 parliamentary election returned the BNP to power. Zia again became prime minister. After her term ended in 2006, a temporary government was created to supervise the next election. In September 2007, Zia was arrested and charged with corruption. She was released on bail in September 2008. In December, Zia and the BNP ran in a parliamentary election but lost to Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League. Sheikh Hasina then became prime minister.
In 2014, Zia was charged with corruption for stealing from the Zia Orphanage Trust. In February 2018, she was found guilty of embezzlement in the corruption case and sentenced to five years in jail. In October, Zia was sentenced to seven more years in prison for corruption. She was released from prison for medical treatment in 2020. However, she was not allowed to leave Bangladesh and remained under house arrest.
On Aug. 5, 2024, after weeks of violent protests across Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India. She had long been a political rival of Zia. On August 6, Zia was released from house arrest.
See also Hasina Wajed.
