The 82nd birthday of former BNP chairperson and former prime minister, late Begum Khaleda Zia, will be observed on Saturday.

Begum Khaleda Zia, widely regarded as an uncompromising leader for democracy in Bangladesh, had been the party chairperson until her death since 1984. She was the first woman who was elected as the prime minister of Bangladesh, and the second in the Muslim world.

The three-time prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, was born to Iskandar Majumder and Taiyaba Majumder in Dinajpur district on 15 August 1945 though her family originally hails from southeastern Feni. She studied at Dinajpur Government Girls High School and later at Surendranath College.

In 1960, she was married to Ziaur Rahman, a military captain at that time who later became a Liberation War hero and proclaimed the independence and subsequently became the president of Bangladesh.

Begum Zia accompanied him as the First Lady while meeting many world leaders, including prime minister Margaret Thatcher of the UK and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.

Following the martyrdom of president Zia in the abortive coup of 1981, she joined BNP as a general member on 2 January 1982 and in March next year elected as its vice-chairman while the party elected as its chairperson, a position which she held until her death on 30 December 2025.