Bangladeshis Pay Last Respects to Former Leader in Tense Capital
The New York Times••world
Key Points:
- Thousands gathered in Dhaka to pay their respects to Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, who passed away the day before amid an unexpected cold spell.
- The funeral procession from her residence to Parliament took about two hours, with mourners lining the streets despite temperatures in the low 50s Fahrenheit.
- The burial ceremony was held in a large open field near Parliament, where political leaders and an imam conducted the funeral prayer before she was laid to rest beside her late husband, former military leader Ziaur Rahman.
- The solemn and quiet nature of the funeral contrasted sharply with recent political unrest and protests that have marked Dhaka’s streets over the past year.
