A retrospective published by Amar Desh recounts the political life, personal hardships and death of Begum Khaleda Zia on December 30, 2025. The article says she joined the BNP on January 3, 1982, became senior vice chairman in March 1983 and was elected chairperson on May 10, 1984. It describes her as Bangladesh’s first female prime minister after she assumed office in 1991.

The article portrays Zia as a central figure in the anti-autocracy movement, saying she was detained at different times between 1983 and 1990 and gained the label “uncompromising leader” for her role in the movement that preceded the fall of the Ershad government on December 6, 1990. It also credits her governments with roles in education, female education, stipends for girls, women’s empowerment, social security, employment and economic expansion.

According to the article, Zia did not leave Bangladesh during the 2007 political crisis, after which she and her two sons were arrested. It says she was jailed following a conviction in 2018, granted conditional release in 2020 and fully released by presidential order in 2024. She died while receiving treatment at Evercare Hospital, and the article says millions attended her funeral on December 31.