DHAKA, Dec 30, 2025 (BSS)- BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman urged everyone to pray for his mother BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.  He said in a Facebook post, "I ask you all to pray for my mother. For the profound emotion, love, and respect shown by the people of this country and by the world, my family and I remain eternally grateful." Begum Khaleda Zia, the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh, breathed her last at 6:00 am today at Evercare Hospital in the capital at the age of 80. She was admitted to Evercare Hospital on November 23 on the advice of her medical board. Tarique Rahman said, "My mother Begum Khaleda Zia has responded to the call of Almighty Allah and left us today. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un."  "To many, she was the leader of the nation, an uncompromising leader, the Mother of Democracy, the Mother of Bangladesh," the statement read. "Today, the country mourns the loss of a guiding presence that shaped its democratic aspirations," he added.  Highlighting her lifelong struggle, the BNP Acting Chairman noted that she stood firm against autocracy, fascism, and domination, leading the movement for freedom, sovereignty, and the restoration of democracy in Bangladesh. Tarique Rahman remarked that her life was illuminated by sacrifice, enduring repeated arrests, denial of medical care, and relentless persecution. "Yet even in pain, confinement, and uncertainty, she never stopped sheltering her family with courage and compassion. Her resilience was not loud, but it was unbreakable," he said. The statement further emphasized her personal sacrifices for the sake of the country. "For the country, she lost her husband; she lost her child. In that loss, this nation and its people became her family, her purpose, her very soul," the Acting Chairman said, referring to Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko.  Tarique Rahman concluded by stating that Begum Khaleda Zia leaves behind an "unforgettable legacy of patriotism, sacrifice, and resistance," a legacy that will forever live on in the democratic conscience of the people of Bangladesh.