For years the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been languishing in prison. Even though the 78-year-old former Prime Minister, bedridden with threat of an impending death looming large, is occasionally allowed to get treatment— there is no doubt that she deserves to be treated better. 

To begin with, a majority of the country’s political observers believe that the so-called charges that have landed her in prison are shady to say the least. Cases of similar shades and colours were also filed against the present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the military-backed Fakhruddin Ahmed’s unelected regime. These charges were made virtually under the martial law, and, after Hasina came to power in 2009, all such cases were gradually dropped. But while doing so, her government made some exceptions—opposition leaders weren’t given the clean chit that the ruling Awami League-backed known criminals so very readily received.  

Khaleda Zia’s husband former President Ziaur Rahman valiantly fought for the liberation of this country and its people. His contribution to this nation doesn’t stop here. After his tragic assassination in 1975, Sheikh Mujib banned all but one political party called BAKSAL. The team of bringing about a self-styled 'second revolution' drove Mujib to ban his own political party—the Awami League. 

Ironic it may be, it was Zia who lifted the ban and all political parties, including the Awami League, were allowed to function in the country. Sheikh Hasina’s debts to Ziaur Rahman and his family do not stop here. The conspirators of Fakhruddin Ahmed’s quasi-military regime offered Khaleda Zia to go on an exile, but the BNP leader refused. Not only that, she also participated in the election that followed—the polls saw the victory of Hasina, who a few years within her tenureship sent Khaleda to prison. 

If Khaleda Zia had agreed to go on an exile during the Fakhruddin regime, analysts tell us that military rule in the most blatant and flagrant form would have been imposed on the nation. If Khaleda Zia had taken the offer, Sheikh Hasina either would have had to go on an exile too or she would’ve been put behind the bars. Khaleda Zia’s showed indomitable courage to protect nation from martial law. 

The same goes for her decision to participate in the election under the Fakhruddin regime. If Khaleda Zia had refused agree to join the polls, there would’ve been a paradigm shift in the country’s politics. Without the BNP, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to hold an election. Khaleda had every reason not to go to the polls— there was a vile propaganda campaign launched against her party, big many BNP workers were weary after being on the run or in prison, Khaled’s own sons were in exile. The list is endless. 

But Khaleda characteristically prioritised democracy over personal gain. She went to the polls, knowing there was no level playing field, perhaps even knowing that Indian leader Pranab Mukharjee ad the Indian establishment had already decided to bring in a stooge in the seats of power in Dhaka. 

Khaleda has never abandoned the people of Bangladesh. To her, like to all true leaders, her people come first. And for that she’s now paying a heavy price. 

Khaleda Zia has been denied a proper treatment abroad and is being treated like a petty criminal. And through this denial, the regime is silently killing the lady who has become our beacon of democracy—our lady with the lamp. Khaleda has been a byword for our nation’s principal values for a long time. But a critically ill Khaleda appears to be more powerful than anyone else. 

Despite being in a hospital bed, she stands tall and supine, like a rock that is capable of withholding any adventurous ambitions of any neighbouring nations, any local fascist leader’s dream of holding onto power for life. 

In days to come Khaleda will be the name of the nation’s struggle— the struggle to bring about the Second Republic where ordinary Bangladeshis will be able to bring about a socket based on equality, justice and rule of law. Those who behind the silent murder of Khaleda Zia will be brought to book one day. And that day, if history be our guide, is not far away.