Former Bangladesh Khaleda Zia congratulated the people today from her hospital bed, saying the country has been “liberated” through the efforts of “our valiant children”. Released from prison after Sheikh Hasina resigned from Prime Minister post and skipped the country, Khaleda Zia also thanked the people “who prayed for my health and freedom”.

“This victory has brought us to a new beginning.  We have to build a new country, a prosperous Bangladesh, out of the long-standing wreckage of democracy and piled up corruption. The students, the youth, are our future. We will bring to life the dreams for which they gave their lifeblood,” she said in a video message posted on social media.  

“I would like to express my sincere thanks to our brave children who fought to the death to make the impossible possible. Pay respect to hundreds of martyrs,” she added.

The release of Khaleda Zia, a two-time Prime Minister who heads the  heads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was ordered by President Mohammed Shahabuddin hours after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster.

Ms Zia was convicted for corruption in 2018 and jailed for 17 years. It left her ineligible to contest elections later that year. Because of ill health, she had been in hospital for most of this period.

The ouster of Sheikh Hasina has not stemmed the tide of violence that has been ravaging the neighbouring country over the past month. Twenty bodies of Awami League leaders have been found across Bangladesh since Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka on Monday.

Nobel laureate and the country’s microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the army-backed interim government, has called for calm.

Sheikh Hasina — the daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — had stepped down from the top post and and left the country after a 45-minute ultimatum from the army. She is currently in India.
 
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said yesterday that the government is giving her time to “recover” before discussing her next plans.

“At a very short notice, she requested approval to come for the moment to India. We simultaneously received a request for flight clearance from the Bangladesh authorities,” Mr Jaishankar had told the Lok Sabha.