Nusrat Bhutto – A heartbreaking story of a brave woman

Nusrat Bhutto – A heartbreaking story of a brave woman

Nusrat Bhutto, widow of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, passed away on Sunday, October 23, 2011 at the age of 82. She suffered a lot throughout her life, but will always be remembered as a brave lady.

Born in Iran on March 23, 1929, Nusrat belonged to a wealthy family from Esfahan. Her father established his business in Karachi, city where Nusrat met Zulfiqar Bhutto and got married on September 8, 1951.

The earlier part of Nusrat’s life was very good, but things changed for her once she got married to Bhutto. The latter was the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and became the ninth Prime Minister of the country from 1973-1977.

Bhutto was known for his intellect, education and vision. He is also believed to be one of the best leaders in the country and had a massive support from all four provinces of Pakistan.

However, the founder of PPP was hanged to death in 1979 by a military dictator General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, who later died in a plane crash.

Zia’s regime saw a lot of struggle for Nusrat and her children Benazir, Murtaza, Sanam and Shahnawaz.

The former First Lady of Pakistan took over from her husband as the chairman of PPP and protested against Zia. However, she was arrested on numerous times and was also tortured by the military dictator during his terrible reign.

In 1982, Nusrat was diagnosed of cancer and had to leave the country for treatment. She suffered even a bigger shock after her youngest son Shahnawaz was found dead in France. The Bhutto family believes that the 27-year-old was poisoned to death.

Once Zia was dead, the Bhutto family returned to Pakistan and Benazir became the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim state. However, she had developed some differences with her brother Murtaza, who had complete support of his mother.

Murtaza was assassinated in 1996 during his sister’s rule and this news absolutely broke Nusrat into half. She was devastated seeing her husband and two sons assassinated. In the same year she was diagnosed of Alzheimer’s disease, a brain infection.

Since then, Nusrat withdrew from public life and fought her illness until 2011. Benazir was also assassinated in 2007, but her mother remained unaware of this until death.

Nusrat’s sacrifice for the country will always be remembered in the country’s history. She outlived three of her children during a tragic lifetime and spent the final days of her life with her only alive daughter Sanam Bhutto.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=1461

Posted by Waqar Masood on Oct 25 2011. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry