Nation will never recover from Khaleda Zia’s loss: Fakhrul

“We never imagined that we would have to stand before you with this news. We were hopeful that just like before, she would recover once again. But we’re now devastated,” he said in an emotional voice during a briefing at the Evercare Hospital in the morning.

Fakhrul further said, “As you have already heard, the head of the medical board Professor Shahabuddin Talukder, announced that at 6:00am today our Mother of Democracy, the guardian of the nation, left us. Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Raji’un. This grief, this loss, is unusual and irreparable. This nation will never be able to make up for it,” he said.

He said Khaleda devoted her entire life to the rights and welfare of the people.

“That leader, who dedicated her whole life to the rights and well-being of people, our leader Begum Khaleda Zia, is no longer with us. For us, her colleagues and political workers, this is something we cannot yet comprehend,” the BNP leader said.

He said her death created a huge vacuum not only in Bangladesh’s politics but also in democratic movements worldwide.

Emergency Standing Committee Meeting

Mirza Fakhrul said the BNP Standing Committee would hold an emergency meeting at 12:30pm to finalise elaborate programmes.

“We will also coordinate our programmes with those announced by the government and inform you accordingly,” he said.

Earlier, Professor Shahabuddin Talukder, head of the medical board formed for Khaleda Zia’s treatment, formally announced that the BNP Chairperson breathed her last at 6:00am at the ICU of Evercare Hospital.

During the briefing, BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas, Professor AZM Zahid Hossain and members of the medical board were present.

Khaleda Zia was admitted to Evercare Hospital on November 23. As her condition deteriorated on November 27, she was shifted to the CCU. She remained on life support until her final moments, reports UNB.