Dhaka. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting president Tariq Rahman paid heartfelt tribute to his mother, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, on her demise. Tariq remembered her as an influential national leader and a loving mother. BNP president Khaleda died yesterday morning while undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka. Today he will be laid to rest.

According to The Daily Star report, Tariq said in a Facebook post that Khaleda Zia’s public life was full of sacrifice and struggle. She was the true protector of the home and family. “His immense love gave us strength in our darkest moments,” he wrote. Khaleda’s elder son Tariq said, “For many she was the leader of the country, the uncompromising leader, the mother of democracy, the mother of Bangladesh.”

He said that the country will miss him. Recalling the days of political struggle, Tariq said that his mother was arrested several times. He was denied medical care. Mother tolerated him. Despite pain, imprisonment and uncertainty, the mother protected her family with courage and compassion.

Referring to late President and BNP founder Zia-ur-Rehman and younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko, Tariq said the mother suffered the pain of losing her husband and son in the service of the country. “In that loss, Bangladesh and its citizens became the mother’s soul,” he said. “She has left behind an unforgettable legacy of patriotism, sacrifice and resistance. A legacy that will always live on in the democratic consciousness of Bangladesh,” Tariq said. Tariq expressed gratitude to all those people in the country and abroad who expressed condolences on the death of his mother.