End of an era: Bangladesh’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia dies at 80

Bangladesh plunged into mourning on Tuesday as Khaleda Zia — the nation’s first woman prime minister and a towering figure in its political history — passed away after a long and arduous battle with illness. She was 80.

Zia breathed her last in the early hours of the morning at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where she had been undergoing treatment, her personal physician Dr AZM Zahid Hossain confirmed. Family members, including her elder son Tarique Rahman and other close relatives, were by her side as the final chapter of her life quietly drew to a close.

The former prime minister, who also served as chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had been admitted to the hospital on 23 November for routine medical tests.

Doctors later detected a chest infection and placed her under close observation. Her condition deteriorated rapidly, and she was shifted to the Coronary Care Unit on 27 November.

In the hours before her death, her doctors described her condition as “extremely critical.” Zia had been battling multiple chronic and complex ailments, including heart disease, liver and kidney complications, diabetes, high blood pressure and severe infections.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and several party leaders were present at the hospital as anxious vigils turned into grief. Just hours earlier, her medical team had appealed to the nation to pray for her recovery.

With her passing, Bangladesh loses a leader who shaped decades of its political life — a formidable presence whose legacy will continue to echo through the country’s turbulent democratic journey.

With PTI inputs