The BNP will hold prayer and religious gatherings across Bangladesh on Saturday to mark the birth anniversary of its late chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
Party offices or mosques will host the gatherings, while the Dhaka event will begin at 11am at the BNP’s central office in Naya Paltan, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said in a statement on Friday.
The party urged its leaders, activists and affiliated organisations to observe the programme with due respect.
Khaleda was born in Jalpaiguri, then part of undivided India, on Aug 15, 1946.
Her family name was Khaleda Khanam and she was nicknamed Putul.
Her father Iskandar Majumder was from Feni but studied in Jalpaiguri while staying at his sister’s home.
He later entered the tea business there and married in the town on the banks of the Teesta.
After the Partition of India in 1947, Khaleda’s family relocated permanently to Dinajpur town in what is now Bangladesh.
She completed her primary schooling at a missionary school there before enrolling at Dinajpur Government Girls' High School.
In 1960, she married Ziaur Rahman, then a captain in the Pakistan Army, and later moved with him to West Pakistan, where he was posted.
After independence, Zia, by then president, founded the BNP on Sept 1, 1978.
Following his death in a failed military coup in 1981, his wife took charge of the party, despite having been a homemaker at the time.
In 1983, under her leadership, the BNP formed a seven-party alliance and launched a movement against the HM Ershad government, one she steered without ever striking a compromise with the regime.
While other major parties eventually reached settlements with the Ershad administration, the BNP under Khaleda held firm, earning her the title of the "uncompromising leader" among party ranks.
She died on Dec 30 last year, while undergoing treatment in hospital for health complications.
Khaleda, who served 10 years as prime minister, remained the BNP's chairperson until her death.
Her elder son Tarique Rahman now leads the party and is serving as head of government after the February election.
