BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has expressed profound sorrow at the death of BNP Chairperson and former three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia, terming the loss as “immense, irreplaceable and irreparable” for the country.
Addressing an emergency press conference at the Evercare Hospital auditorium on Tuesday morning, Fakhrul said, “We were hoping this time, just like before, that she would recover again. But you have already heard that the Mother of Democracy, our guardian and the guardian of our nation, has left us.
“Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilayhi Raji’un. This grief, this loss, is immeasurable. The nation will never be able to fully recover from this,” he said.
“We, her colleagues and political activists, are unable to comprehend this loss. A huge vacuum has been created in the politics of Bangladesh, and not only nationally, but also in the democratic movement across the democratic world.”
Fakhrul mentioned that Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus contacted him by phone and conveyed that a special advisory council meeting would be convened by Tuesday to decide on according a state funeral and burial with full honours to Khaleda Zia. The cabinet would discuss the arrangements for her burial, interment and the conferment of state honours, he said in the morning.
He further said, “We will announce the subsequent programmes in coordination with the government.”
Khaleda Zia, who had been suffering from prolonged illness, breathed her last at 6am on Tuesday. Her passing has cast a shadow of grief across the nation and the international community.
