Begum Nusrat Bhutto buried in Naudero

The former first lady, the mother of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto was buried in Garhi Khuda Baksh on Monday, October 24. She was buried next to her husband, Pakistan’s first democratically-elected premier, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

For last few years, she was said to have Alzheimer’s disease. On Sunday, October 23, she died at the age of 82 at a hospital in Dubai. Her body was flown to Naudero where a ‘Guard of Honour’ was presented before the burial.

Thousands of mourners, including the heads of the current government – including the president Asif Ali Zardari – who flew to Dubai to escort her body to Sukkar, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani and people from different shades of life attended the funeral.

Survived by her only living daughter Sanam Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto lost her husband, three children, Shahnawaz Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto before she her eyes. A woman of rare fortitude, the first tragedy that visited her family was the hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Founder of the Pakistani People’s Party, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s government was toppled in a bloodless military coup by General Zia ul Haq in 1977 whereby Bhutto was subsequently put on trial and was later executed in 1979.

His youngest of four children, Shahnawaz Bhutto was found dead in Nice, France in 1985 under mysterious circumstances. While no one could ever be brought on trial, members of the Bhutto family held he was poisoned.

Begum Nusrat Bhutto’s torments did not end there. After losing her husband and the youngest son, she lost the eldest son Murtaza Bhutto in 1996. In a police shootout, Murtaza was killed outside his home in Karachi.

Her daughter, Pakistan’s first female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007 in Rawalpindi when she had just started the election campaign for the Pakistan People’s Party.

Begum Nusrat Bhutto became an increasingly famous political figure in 1970s when her husband was facing death trial. She led the Movement of Restoration of Democracy in 1981 and remained active in politics until 1996 whereby she completely withdrew from public life after her son’s assassination.

The highest civil award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and the title of Maadar-i-Jamhooriyat (mother of democracy) was bestowed by the government on Pakistan’s former first lady Begum Nusrat Bhutto in recognition of her services for the cause of democracy in the country.

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Posted by Sajjad Hussain on Oct 25 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry