Time seems to have stopped inside the quiet house on Road 79 in Gulshan. Yet, in every corridor and along every wall, the presence of “Madam” lingers.
Firoza is silent today. Unusually silent. Even footsteps feel cautious, as if afraid to disturb the memories that fill the air. Begum Khaleda Zia lived here in her final years. Today, she is gone. But her absence feels heavier than her presence ever was.
Before Firoza, her life unfolded inside the Dhaka Cantonment residence on Shaheed Mainul Road, where Ziaur Rahman served as army chief and later as president. After his assassination, that cantonment house became Khaleda Zia’s only address for years. That chapter ended abruptly after Sheikh Hasina’s government came to power, when she was evicted. It was then that Firoza, in Gulshan, became her final home and political refuge.
From this house, she left for the Old Dhaka court in 2018. She never returned that day, going straight to prison after the Anti-Corruption Commission verdict. Years later, during the Covid pandemic, she came back from hospital under conditional release. Every return carried hope. Every departure carried uncertainty.
Today, the security arrangements remain unchanged. CSF members stand guard. The guardhouse is still there. Yet the moment one steps inside, a deep emptiness settles in the chest.
BNP Media Cell member Shairul Kabir Khan says Firoza holds decades of memories. “Those who worked with her for years are emotionally tied to this house. Their feelings are physically intertwined with this place,” he says.
Many who once served her at the cantonment residence of martyred President Ziaur Rahman are still around Firoza, unable to accept that she will not return. “I cannot put into words what I feel while working here now,” Shairul Kabir admits. “It truly feels like Madam is still alive in this house.”
A CSF member, his voice heavy, says quietly, “I was on Madam’s duty. Today she is not here. When I entered the house, the silence hit me. There is no language for this pain, brother. I pray Allah grants her peace in the hereafter.”
Another guard remembers her not as a leader, but as a mother. “She always asked if we had eaten. In the afternoon or evening, she would check on us. She was like a mother to us,” he says.
All security personnel on duty today wear black badges. Grief is written clearly on their faces.
House 196
Next to Firoza stands House No 196. After Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in 1981, the government of then acting president Justice Abdus Sattar allotted that house in Khaleda Zia’s name. A few months ago, interim government Public Works Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan formally handed over its documents. Tarique Rahman now lives there.
Mourning hangs heavy over that house too.
Gulshan Avenue, a diplomatic zone, remains quieter than usual. Those who walk past do so slowly, faces marked by sadness.
“I live nearby,” says Gulshan resident Hasanuzzaman Khan. “I came here this afternoon. Madam is gone. Now Tarique Rahman has no one to lean on. This grief is not only his. It belongs to all of us who believe in democracy.”
A son in prayer
BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman spent Thursday overwhelmed by grief. According to BNP Media Cell member Atiqur Rahman Rumon, he spent the night and much of the day in prayer, reciting the Quran for his mother’s soul.
Family members and relatives gathered around him, sharing memories of Khaleda Zia. “He is emotionally shattered,” Rumon said. In the late afternoon, around 4:30pm, Tarique Rahman went to the chairperson’s office in Gulshan and sat in his chamber.
Mourning at the Gulshan office
Black flags fly. BNP flags and the national flag hang at half-mast. The condolence book remains open as diplomats and political leaders arrive one after another.
On Thursday, Social Welfare Adviser Sharmin S Murshid, US Charge d’Affaires Tracy Ann Jacobson, Iranian Ambassador Mansur Chavushi, Pir Maulana Mufti Shah Abu Nasr Nesar Uddin Ahmed of Charchina, and Jatiya Party Secretary General Shamim Haider Patwary paid their respects.
Later in the evening, Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Dr Shafiqur Rahman visited, met Tarique Rahman and family members, and signed the condolence book. Speaking to journalists afterward, he spoke of unity and the political path Khaleda Zia had shaped.
Outside the office, leaders, activists and journalists continue to gather.
“There is no leader now,” says Banani Juba Dal activist Altaf Hossain, his voice breaking. “I survived so many dark times by looking at her from afar. Even amid persecution, she gave us hope. I don’t know how to overcome this grief.”
Krishak Dal Vice President Ibrahim echoes the same pain. “It is hard to accept Madam’s departure,” he says. “But one thing is certain: no one can break her popularity record in Bangladeshi politics. She will live in our hearts forever.”
Begum Khaleda Zia passed away early Tuesday morning at Evercare Hospital. On Wednesday, after a massive funeral at Manik Mia Avenue, she was laid to rest beside party founder Ziaur Rahman with full state honours.
Firoza is silent today. But in that silence, her presence still breathes.