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Khaleda Zia
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Image:Primeminister.jpg frame100x|right|thumb|Khaleda Zia - Prime Minister of Bangladesh
'''Khaleda Zia''' (
Bangla: খালেদা জিয়া) (born
August 15,
1945) is the
Prime Minister of Bangladesh Prime Minister of
Bangladesh. She was Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996, the first woman to do so, and then again from 2001 to the present. She is the widow of assassinated president
Ziaur Rahman, and leads his old party, the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Life before politics
Khaleda Zia was born to Iskandar Majumder and Taiyaba Majumder at
Dinajpur District in 1945 in what is now north-western
Bangladesh. She studied in Dinajpur Government Girls High School and later in Surendranath College. In 1960, she married
Ziaur Rahman. Her husband later became the President of the Republic and formed the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Until the assassination of Khaleda Zia's husband, President
Ziaur Rahman in an abortive military coup in
Chittagong on
30 May,
1981, Khaleda Zia had taken little interest in either politics or public life. Even when her husband was propelled to power after the political changes in 1975, she remained a shy and withdrawn housewife spending most of her time raising her two sons.
After the 1981 assassination of President Ziaur Rahman, Vice-President Justice
Abdus Sattar took over as the acting President and also as Chairman of the BNP. Army Chief of Staff General
Hossain Mohammad Ershad overthrew Justice Sattar in 1982.
Entry into politics
In March 1983, Justice Sattar appointed Khaleda Zia vice-chairman of
BNP. On February 1984, she became the chairperson as Justice Sattar retired from politics. On
10 August,
1984 the party elected her the chairperson.
Meanwhile, BNP formed a seven-party alliance in September 1983 to step up movement against the autocratic regime of General
Hossain Mohammad Ershad. Khaleda was detained seven times during almost nine years of autocratic rule under President Ershad before Ershad's resignation on
6 December,
1990.
Prime Minister
First term
The BNP restored the parliamentary system through the
Constitution of Bangladesh 12th amendment to the Constitution in 1991. A neutral caretaker government oversaw elections on
27 February,
1991. Khaleda Zia was elected as Bangladesh's first woman Prime Minister in elections that were broadly considered to be free, fair and truly democratic.
When in power, the government of Khaleda made some headway in the education sector, introducing compulsory free primary education, free education for girls up till the 10th grade, stipend for girl students and food for education programme. It also increased the age-limit for entry into government services from 27 years to 30 years and made highest budgetary allocation in the education sector.
Second term
She became Prime Minister for the second consecutive term after the BNP had a landslide victory in
15 February,
1996 general election to the sixth Jatiya Sangsad. The election was, however, boycotted by all other major parties. The short-lived parliament introduced the Caretaker Government through
Constitution of Bangladesh 13th amendment to the Constitution, and then was dissolved to pave the way for the parliamentary elections. In the
12 June,
1996 polls, BNP lost to
Sheikh Hasina's
Awami League but emerged as the largest opposition party in the country's parliamentary history with 116 seats.
Third term
Aiming to return to power, the
BNP formed a four-party opposition alliance on
6 January,
1999 with the
Jatiya Party, the
Jamaat-e-Islami and the
Islami Oikya Jot and launched several agitation programmes against the ruling
Awami League.
The alliance then participated in the
1 October,
2001 general elections and won the election with a two-third majority and
Khaleda Zia was once again sworn in as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
See also
*
Ziaur Rahman
*
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
External links
-
Bangladesh Nationalist Party website
-
Official Profile
-
Biography from Bangladesh Mission, United Nations
-
Interview],
Time, April 3, 2006
Category:1945 births Zia, Khaleda
Category:Living people Zia, Khaleda
Category:Bangladeshi politicians Zia, Khaleda
Category:Prime Ministers of Bangladesh Zia, Khaleda
Category:Current female heads of government Zia, Khaleda
bn:খালেদা জিয়া
de:Khaleda Zia
fr:Khaleda Zia
gl:Begum Khaleda Zia
ko:ì¹¼ë ˆë‹¤ 지아
id:Begum Khaleda Zia
ms:Begum Khaleda Zia
ja:カレダ・ジア
pl:Chaleda Zia
ru:Зиа, Халеда
zh:�莉�·齊亞
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