India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Thursday, 01 January 2026 NATION EDITORIAL Power on Trial Page 6 Can Oppn rebound in 2026-a year with five key elections? PERSPECTIVE Neither victorious, nor vanquished Page 5 Page 7 Begum Zia laid to rest; EAM hands over PM’s letter to Tarique Rahman UNITED NEWS OF INDIA New Delhi/Dhaka, 31 December B egum Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s former premier and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was laid to rest beside her husband, late Gen Ziaur Rahman at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Wednesday afternoon. Begum Zia was formally buried around 4.30 p.m. with full state honours, following her funeral held at the South Plaza of the national parliament building. A large number of foreign dignitaries, including India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, attended the ceremony alongside family members, senior state officials, government representatives, diplomats, and BNP leaders. Earlier in the day, Mr Jaishankar met Tarique Rahman, the son of Begum Khaleda Zia, and personally handed over a condolence letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, conveying India’s sympathies to the grieving family. Sources said Mr Jaishankar was also “briefed about fast moving political events in Dhaka” by both the Indian High commission and top BNP and other political leaders. Mr Jaishankar’s trip for an out of power politician is being seen as an unusual and friendly diplomatic gesture from India by Bangladeshis. Tarique is expected to take over the mantle of his mother and lead BNP in the forthcoming polls for the national parliament in February. Analysts believe that in an election from which BNP’s main rival, the Awami League, has been banned, and where the Yunus government stand discredited for allowing chaos to rule on Dhaka’s streets, BNP may be have its best shot ever at an electoral vctory. Access to the burial site where Begum Zia was finally laid to rest, was strictly restricted, while public movement in Zia Udyan and surrounding areas of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar was limited till the burial was completed. Earlier, hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered at Manik Mia Avenue to offer prayers at her ‘namaze-janaza’, bidding her a final farewell. Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, advisers of the interim government, BNP leaders, and the chiefs of the three armed services joined the service. The three-time former prime minister and long-serving chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party had passed away at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday at Evercare Hospital after a prolonged, age-related illness. Large crowds could be seen lining the route of the cortege as it passed solemnly through the streets. No third party, says New Delhi on China’s mediation claim STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 31 December A day after Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi claimed that China had played a role in ending hostilities between India and Pakistan in the month of May following the Pahalgam terror attack, sources in the Indian government firmly rejected the claim, reiterating that no third party was involved in the ceasefire decision in the wake of Operation Sindoor. Amid repeated claims by US President Donald Trump of having mediated to ceasefire between India and Pakistan, New Delhi has consistently maintained that the ceasefire on 10 May following Operation Sindoor, was reached following direct talks between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries. “We have already refuted such claims. On bilateral issues between India and Pakistan, there is no role for a third party. Our position has been clarified on several occasions in the past that the India-Pakistan ceasefire was agreed to directly between the DGMOs of the two countries,” a government source told a news outlet. The development comes after Mr Wang, speaking at a symposium in Beijing on Tuesday, claimed that Beijing mediated several global conflicts, including the standoff between India and Pakistan. Contaminated water tragedy in MP : Bhopal: Following massive public outrage over the supply of contaminated Narmada river water to households in a locality of Indore ~ the country’s cleanest city ~ and the reported ninth death due to diarrhoea on Wednesday, the BJP-led state government has suspended two officials and terminated another. While Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava has confirmed only seven deaths so far, sources said the toll has reached nine, with the death of a five-month-old baby boy on Wednesday. Officials said more than 1,100 people have been affected by vomiting and diarrhoea in the Bhagirathpura area over the past week, of whom around 150 have been hospitalised.