Begum
Nusrat Bhutto was born on 23
March 1929, former first lady of
Pakistan, widow of Shaheed
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and mother
of Ms Sanam Bhutto, Shaheed
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Mir
Murtaza Bhutto and Mir Shahnawaz
Bhutto. Nusrat met Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto in Karachi where they got
married on September 8, 1951.
As first lady from 1973-1977,
Nusrat Bhutto functioned as a
political hostess and
accompanied her husband on a
number of overseas visits. In
1979, after the trial and
execution of her husband, she
and her daughters were
imprisoned and put under house
arrest by the new regime of
Zia-ul-Haq. However, due to
health concerns she was later
permitted to leave the country
for London, where she was later
joined by her daughters Benazir
and Sanam. She became leader of
the People's Party of Pakistan
during her London exile and
although she was chairman of the
party for life. After returning
to Pakistan in the late 1980s,
she served several terms as an
MP to the National Assembly from
the family constituency of
Larkana in Sindh. Also, during
the administrations of her
daughter Shaheed Benazir Bhutto,
she became a Cabinet Minister
and Deputy Prime Minister.
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. She suffered
from the combined effects of a
stroke and Alzheimer's Disease
.She passed away on October 23,
2011. Begum Nusrat Bhutto was 82
years old at the time of her
death.
President Asif Ail
Zardari
has on
her 83rd
birth
anniversary
paid
glowing
tributes
to Maadr
i
Jamhooriat
late
Begum
Nusrat
Bhutto
describing
her as
“a
national
asset
who
personally
led from
the
front a
heroic
struggle
for the
restoration
of
democracy
in the
country”.
She was
a
courageous
woman
who
stood
tall
despite
unspeakable
personal
tragedies
in the
course
of
democratic
struggle.
The
Maadr i
Jamhooriat
was
victimized
and
brutalized
by
forces
of
dictatorship,
the
scars of
which
she wore
on her
mind and
body for
as long
as she
lived,
and
added
“these
scars
will
always
be
remembered
as
glittering
medallion
ever
worn by
a woman
in the
course
of
democratic
struggle”
A woman
of great
compassion,
elegance,
grace
and
courage
she will
continue
to
inspire
generations
of Party
workers
and
democrats
and lift
them to
higher
goals in
life. At
the time
of
Independence
she
soothed
the
scars of
many by
actively
participating
in
relief
measures
for
refugees
pouring
into the
new
found
country
that had
little
or no
resources.
Begum Nusrat Bhutto pioneered
politics of reconciliation
NAUDERO:
Paying rich tribute to the late
Nusrat Bhutto for her meritorious
services to democracy, Co-Chairman
of the Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP) and President Asif Ali
Zardari on Wednesday said that she
had pioneered the politics of
reconciliation in Pakistan by
bringing political forces together
on the platform of the Movement
for Restoration of Democracy (MRD).
“When we talk about reconciliation
today, in fact, it was Begum
Nusrat Bhutto, who pioneered it by
bringing together the country’s
political forces, even those who
were adversaries of Shaheed
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, at the
platform of MRD,” President
Zardari said while addressing a
special meeting of the PPP’s
Central Executive Committee (CEC)
and the Federal Council here after
the `Soyem’ of the late woman.
The President said that Begum
Nusrat Bhutto was a courageous
lady, who, along with her
daughter, Benazir Bhutto, stood
firm against a narrow-minded
dictator and even faced
imprisonment. It was a message for
the party workers as to why they
cannot face hardship when she as a
mother of four children could face
jail, he added. President Zardari
paid glowing tribute to Nusrat
Bhutto for her unprecedented
struggle and sacrifices for
democracy and announced that her
death anniversary would be
observed every year by holding of
seminars, religious events and
giving charity.
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari also addressed the special
meeting of CEC, which was attended
by party leaders, federal and
provincial ministers and workers.
The president said that Sanam
Bhutto was the last living symbol
of a brave father and mother. He
said that he was flooded with
thoughts and memories about Nusrat
Bhutto. President Zardari said
that he paid tribute to her for
her struggle and unmatched
sacrifices for democracy. The
president requested party members
to recollect and put their
memories about Nusrat Bhutto in
writing, which would be compiled
in the form of a book to be
launched on her next death
anniversary. The Daily Times/app
Nusrat Bhutto: a symbol of
struggle for democracy
By
Farzana Raja - The Daily Times -
October 27, 2011
A
remarkable chapter of country’s
political history and the struggle
for a democratic Pakistan has
ended with the sudden and sad
demise of late Mohtarma Nusrat
Bhutto. The legendary Mohtarma
Nusrat Bhutto was not only the
wife of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, the first elected prime
minister of Pakistan and the
mother of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto,
first women prime minister of
Islamic World, but she was and is
a symbol of struggle against the
most brutal tyranny and revival of
democracy to safeguard the rights
of the people of Pakistan. After
Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, she
cared the nation as a mother.
Mohtarma Nusrat Bhutto fought
against the dictator for the sake
of the democracy and people of
Pakistan.
Read more..
Begum Nusrat Bhutto — We salute
you
By Farahnaz
Ispahani -
The
Daily Times - October 27, 2011
Begum
Bhutto was not of the usual mould.
She was a highly determined woman
who refused to give up her mission
to lead her nation towards
democracy in spite of the brutal
oppression suffered not only by
her, her children and her larger
family of the PPP, but, indeed, by
all of Pakistan. She played a
vital role in the empowerment of
Pakistani women, both as first
lady during the government of
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Shaheed, and
later as a senior member of
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s
cabinet. Born Nusrat Ispahani, the
young woman from an Iranian
Pakistani family who grew to love
her adopted country, rests today
in the soil of Sindh.
Read more..
The tale of Nusrat Bhutto’s
historic voyage
By Raja Riaz Ahmed
-
The
Daily Times - October 27, 2011
“On
25 February, 1981, I went to
Karachi and a message was sent to
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s first wife,
Ameeri Begum, consisting of
details of the plan. Ameeri Begum
was a highly respected lady and
always wore ‘burqa’ and never came
out of the house with open face.
She went to meet Nusrat Bhutto and
Benazir Bhutto in her traditional
outlook in her car. The gates were
opened by the authorities and she
went in. “After some hours ‘she’
came out and the car went to the
hospital of Dr Abdul Ghaffar Jatoi,
the brother of close aide of
Bhutto, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi,”
tells Advocate Chaudhry. In fact,
the burqa-clad lady who went into
the sub-jail, 70 Clifton, was
Ameeri Begum but the lady who came
out in the ‘burqa’ was Begum
Nusrat Bhutto.
Read more..
An Exceptional Woman - Nusrat
Bhutto
By M.I
- The News Blog
Nusrat Bhutto’s death has brought
back a bibliography of blurry
memories and events perhaps
forgotten by most of the people in
Pakistan today. Popularly known as
the widow of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
and mother of Benazir Bhutto, her
personal contribution to the
struggle aimed at the welfare and
democracy in Pakistan usually gets
shadowed by the life of the vital
figures of Bhutto family.
Essentially, a loving wife whose
concern and care for her husband
transcended above her household
and then started a series of
relentless efforts and fights she
had to put up on more fronts than
one. Nusrat Bhutto, being Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto’s second wife, played a
key role in boosting and
benefacting her husband’s rocking
political career by not only using
links from her Iranian heritage
but also by actively participating
in the Pakistani politics.
Read more..
Begum Nusrat Bhutto honored for
heroic struggle for democracy
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.
Read more..
Begum Nusrat Bhutto laid to rest
The
body of Begum Nusrat Bhutto,
mother of slain prime minister
Benazir Bhutto, was laid to rest
at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Monday
evening. The funeral prayers
were held at the Naudero
President House.
The
Pakistan People’s Party has
announced a 40-day mourning on
the death of its leader and the
government has announced 10 days
mourning with Monday observed as
a public holiday. All government
offices, shops, schools and
businesses were closed across
the country. The business
community also pulled down its
shutters. The office-bearers and
workers of the Pakistan People’s
Party left for Garhi Khuda
Bakhsh to participate in the
funeral of Begum Nusrat Bhutto. Read
more..
Nusrat Bhutto's struggle for
democracy
The News:
KARACHI:
Begum Nusrat
Bhutto waged almost a decade
long political struggle for
revival of democracy,
restoration of Constitution and
upholding of fundamental rights
of Pakistani people in the face
of brutal dictatorship.
Read
more..
Nusrat Bhutto’s death — end of
an era
Belonging
to a well-to-do Iranian business
family she had the good fortune
of becoming the country’s first
lady when Z.A. Bhutto assumed
power soon after the
dismemberment of the country.
She also enjoyed pomp and power
when Benazir became the prime
minister. But in the intervening
period and even afterwards, she
faced several tragedies with
exemplary courage and fortitude.
Read more..
Nusrat’s years of torment end
Begum
Nusrat Bhutto, who suffered the
longest torment among Pakistani
politicians but put up an epic
fight against military
dictatorship, died in a Dubai
hospital on Sunday after a long
illness. She was 82.
Thus
came a quiet end to the life of
the widow of former prime
minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,
mother of former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto and mother-in-law
of President Asif Ali Zardari,
away from her homeland, where
she will be brought on Monday
for burial in a graveyard laden
with family tragedies.
Read more..
