, Dec. 30 -- The long, turbulent and towering journey of Khaleda Zia - three-time former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) - came to a solemn end on Tuesday morning at the age of 80.

The chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) breathed her last at 6am on Tuesday, according to AKM Wahiduzzaman, the party's ICT Affairs Secretary and head of its Online Activists Network.

Widow of slain President and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, Khaleda Zia had long been woven into the fabric of Bangladesh's political drama - its rises, ruptures, hopes, and hostilities.

Her final months were marked by an unrelenting battle against pneumonia, chronic lung infections and persistent cardiac complications. Even...