ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed condolences over the passing of Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, Khaleda Zia, describing her as a committed friend of Islamabad. In a statement on Tuesday, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) announced its leader Zia had passed away at the age of 80 after prolonged illness. She died at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where the former prime minister was admitted on Nov. 23 with symptoms of a lung infection, according to The Daily Star, a Bangladesh news website.

Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's first female prime minister, dies at 80 after battling multiple health issues.

Zia became the country's first female leader in 1991 after its first democratic election in 20 years.