Dhaka, Dec. 30 -- Khaleda Zia, one of the two women who were plunged into politics and who most profoundly shaped Bangladesh's post-1975 politics, has now taken her final leave, marking the end of a turbulent and transformative chapter in the nation's political history.

She began as a quiet girl from Dinajpur, with neither ambition nor appetite for power. Politics was a world far from her reach. But history had other plans. By the time she died, she had gone on to lead the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for over 40 years in the 54-year old nation. She stood at the heart of the 1990 uprising that brought down military rule, and served three times as prime minister of a nation she helped reshape.

The "uncompromising leader" of the ant...