Pakistan’s former First Lady Begum Nusrat Bhutto laid to rest

Begum Nusrat Bhutto was laid to rest, next to the grave of her husband Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto graveyard on Monday. Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, grandson of the deceased, lowered her mortal remains into the grave and placed it in accordance with Islamic traditions.

He was the first to cover his grandmother’s grave and was assisted by his father President Asif Ali Zradari in discharging the responsibility, which Muslims are obliged to undertake while performing funeral rites.

Earlier, the highest civil award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and the title of Mother of Democracy were 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.

The civil award and the title were conferred on her a day after she died in Dubai following protracted illness and long years of exile and hours before her dead body was flown from Dubai and buried in the family mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.

On the advice of the Prime Minister, the Acting President on Monday approved the conferment of the highest civil award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz on her as well as the title of Madar-i-Jamhooriyat, Presidential Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said.

Begum Nusrat Bhutto was a great woman and a national asset not only because she was the woman behind two great leaders of our country-Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto-but also in her own right for having fought a heroic struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country, the citation said.

It described Begum Nusrat Bhutto as a great national asset whose heroic struggle for the cause of democracy in the country will be long remembered.

“Begum Sahiba is a living example of a life standing tall despite unspeakable tragedies inflicted upon her by successive dictatorships bent upon destroying the social, political and constitutional fabric of the country.

“In the struggle for democracy she witnessed and endured the execution of her illustrious husband through judicial abuse, the tragic assassination of her two sons in the prime of their lives and of her daughter, the Muslim World’s first elected Prime Minister.

“It is hard to find a comparable example in contemporary history of a brave and strong woman who endured so much of personal ordeal in a life long struggle for democracy and rights of the people,” it said.

“Her courage and sacrifice will continue to inspire generations of democrats”.