The BNP-led government has decided to award the Independence Award (posthumously) to former Prime Minister, BNP chairperson and wife of the country’s first military dictator General Ziaur Rahman, Begum Khaleda Zia, for her overall contribution to nation building, including independence, democracy, and women’s education.
The nomination has created laughter and anger among the Liberation War veterans and activists because of the BNP’s patronization of war criminals and Jamaat-e-Islami after the assassination of the father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on August 15, 1975.
General Zia withdrew the ban on religion-based politics and welcomed top razakars like Ghulam Azam, Matiur Rahman Nizami and ATM Azharul Islam (now MP) as they returned to Bangladesh with Pakistani passports.
Despite his involvement in the assassination, General Zia never defamed Bangabandhu and recognized him as the father of the nation and supreme leader of the Liberation War.
After Zia’s death in an army coup in 1981, Khaleda Zia—one of the kept of General Asif Nawaz Janjua in 1971—continued patronizing Jamaat and started observing August 15 as her birthday after becoming prime minister in 1991 with Jamaat’s support.
Khaleda Zia also helped Ghulam Azam get back his citizenship and attempted to stop the movement for his trial for genocide in 1971, spearheaded by Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam. Cases were filed against the organizers.
In 2001, the BNP again came to power with Jamaat’s support and established a reign of terror to destroy the Awami League, minorities, and secular forces by patronizing Jamaat-Shibir cadres and militants of JMB and HuJI-B.
Their bonding remained strong during the street violence against the Awami League government till 2015, when the BNP started to stay away from Jamaat due to widespread condemnation at home and abroad. Yet, in the 2018 election, Jamaat leaders participated with the BNP’s party symbol.
After a long gap, BNP and Jamaat campaigned against the Awami League from 2022 and took part in police massacres and the murder of Awami League members from July 2024 onwards. As Jamaat got an upper hand after the fall of the Awami League government, it became the major influencer behind the interim government, led by US puppet Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
Khaleda Zia was freed after her jail sentences in corruption cases were quashed during the Yunus era. Tarique Rahman’s convictions and cases were also withdrawn or revoked to pave way for his return home.
During the turbulent days, Khaleda Zia died, reportedly on December 30, 2025, even though hospital sources claimed that she died two weeks earlier and had been kept on life support until Tarique’s return on December 25.
In the staged election of February 12, when the Awami League could not participate due to the demands of the BNP-Jamaat, the pro-Pakistani party won 77 seats as an alliance, while the BNP alliance got 212 seats in parliament.
With this, the power usurpers and mob leaders of post-August mayhem are in parliament, with Jamaat-NCP still remaining strong to influence the decisions of the BNP-led government.