Begum Nusrat Bhutto passes away in Dubai

Published: October 23, 2011

A photograph of former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his wife Nusrat Bhutto. PHOTO: TMN/FILE
DUBAI: Nusrat Bhutto, widow of former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and mother of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, passed away in Dubai on Sunday.
The federal government to announce one day of mourning due to her demise. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has announced the suspension of all political activity in the wake of the former First Lady’s death.
Begum Nusrat Bhutto was 82 years old at the time of her death.
She outlived three of her children Murtaza, Benazir and Shahnawaz Bhutto. Of the immediate family, only Sanam Bhutto, daughter of Nusrat and ZA Bhutto remains.
Sources said that arrangements are being made to bring her body back to Karachi for a funeral scheduled for Tuesday.
Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that her body will be taken for burial to Garhi Khuda Bux, the ancestral graveyard of the Bhutto family.
Bhutto had been recovering from a stroke while simultaneously battling Alzheimer’s disease.
She had functioned as a political hostess and accompanied ZA Bhutto on overseas visits.
In 1979, after the trial and execution of her husband, she succeeded him as leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party as chairman for life.
In 1982 she was given permission to leave the country by the military government of General Ziaul Haq for medical treatment in London at which point her daughter, Benazir Bhutto, became acting leader of the party and by 1984 Benazir became party chairman.