Bangladesh | Hasina's bitterest foe, Khaleda Zia, thanks protesting students for making 'impossible possible'

Khaleda Zia, the arch-rival of Bangladesh's former Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina, who fled the country just days earlier after being freed from years of house arrest, on Wednesday (August 7) thanked protestors for making the "impossible possible".

Zia, the chairperson of the key opposition, Bangladesh National Party (BNP), is in poor health and is confined to a wheelchair with rheumatoid arthritis and struggling with diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver. She was taken to the hospital after being "freed".

In a video being widely shared on social media, Zia, speaking from the hospital,said: "I would like to express my sincere thanks to our brave children who fought to the death to make the impossible possible. Pay respect to hundredsofmartyrs".

“আমি আন্তরিক ধন্যবাদ জানাতে চাই আমাদের বীর সন্তানদের যারা মরণপন সংগ্রাম করে এই অসম্ভবকে সম্ভব করেছেন। শতশত শহীদদের জানাই শ্রদ্ধা”।
বেগম খালেদা জিয়া
#KhaledaZia pic.twitter.com/iUT02T2tSr — Monju Alom (@MonjuAlom1) August 7, 2024

"This victory has brought new opportunities for us. The corruption which has been going on in the country for so many days was ignored by the government. Amid all this, we must make Bangladesh prosperous again," said Zia.

She promised the students "who gave up on their dreams by getting involved in bloodshed, we will fulfil those dreams."

"Students have shown great intellect, courage and bravery while fighting which will help us in making Bangladesh a republic."

The enmity between Zia and Hasina

As per Reuters, the enmity between the two women popularly came to be known as the "Battle of Begums".

It has its roots in the murder of Hasina's father — Bangladesh's founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with her mother, three brothers and several other relatives in the 1975 military coup.

At the time, Zia's husband, Ziaur Rahman, was the deputy army chief and three months into the coup, he effectively took control of the nation. He was himself killed in another military coup in 1981.

The BNP mantle fell to his widow, Zia, and the two women in 1990 joined forces. However, there is a mutual dislike between the two that has also been blamed for the 2007 political crisis in the country — when an emergency was imposed.

(With inputs from agencies)