The BNP has announced a nationwide programme to mark the 82nd birth anniversary of former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, with milad and doa mahfils to be held at party offices and mosques across the country tomorrow, Saturday (August 15).A milad and doa mahfil will be held at the BNP central office in Naya Paltan at 11am. Senior BNP leaders are expected to attend the programme.In a press release issued on Friday, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi urged leaders, activists and supporters of the party and its affiliated organisations to participate in the programmes across the country.Khaleda Zia’s deathKhaleda Zia died at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka at around 6am on December 30 last year while undergoing treatment. She was 80.Announcing her death at the hospital, then BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the party had hoped she would recover as she had done in the past.Her eldest son Tarique Rahman, daughter-in-law Dr Zubaida Rahman, granddaughter Zaima Rahman and other family members were present at the hospital during her final moments. Senior BNP leaders and members of the medical board treating her were also there.Khaleda Zia had long been suffering from several health complications, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis and diabetes. She also had chronic kidney, lung, heart and eye problems.She was admitted to hospital on November 23 last year after infections were detected in her heart and lungs. A medical board comprising specialists from Bangladesh, the UK, US, China and Australia supervised her treatment.An initiative was taken in early August to take her abroad for treatment, but it was eventually abandoned due to her physical condition.A major figure in Bangladesh politicsKnown as the “Aposhin Neta” or “Uncompromising Leader”, Khaleda Zia was a central figure in Bangladesh’s politics for decades.She served as prime minister three times, beginning in 1991. She was Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister and the second elected female head of government in the Muslim world.Khaleda Zia was born on August 15, 1945, in Dinajpur to Iskandar Majumder and Toiyaba Majumder. Her family’s ancestral home was in Feni. She studied at Dinajpur Government Girls’ High School and later at Surendranath College.She married Ziaur Rahman in 1960. Following Ziaur Rahman’s assassination in 1981, Khaleda Zia joined the BNP as an ordinary member on January 2, 1982. She became the party’s vice-chairperson in March 1983 and chairperson in August 1984.Khaleda Zia also holds a unique electoral record in Bangladesh. She never lost an election in any constituency she contested. She was elected from five separate constituencies in the 1991 and 2001 general elections and won all three seats she contested in the 2008 election.