BD’s ex-PM Khaleda Zia in London for treatment, meets son after 7 years

By Agencies
January 10, 2025
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia waves to activists as she arrives for a rally in Dhaka in this file picture taken January 20, 2014. — Reuters
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia waves to activists as she arrives for a rally in Dhaka in this file picture taken January 20, 2014. — Reuters

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia was admitted to a specialised hospital in London on Wednesday for advanced treatment, her party said.

Earlier, the 79-year-old chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had an emotional reunion with her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, at the Heathrow International Airport after more than seven years of separation.

Khaleda Zia was admitted to the London Clinic under Professor Patrick Kennedy at 6:30 pm (BST), BNP Media Cell member Shairul Kabir Khan quoted Khaleda Zia’s personal physician Professor AZM Zahid Hossain as saying.

Zia was driven to the London Clinic directly from Heathrow Airport by her son and BNP acting chairman Rahman.

Rahman’s wife Dr Zubaida Rahman accompanied them. Bangladeshi physicians, who accompanied the former premier to London, handed over treatment related documents to the doctors of the London Clinic, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) said.