Country mourns death of 'mother of democracy'

The country on Monday mourned the death of Begum Nusrat Bhutto, the wife and mother of two former prime ministers and mother-in-law of current President Asif Ali Zardari. Government offices, educational institutions, banks and part of the private business remained closed as the government declared a public holiday to honour Nusrat, who died after years of illness at the age of 82 on Sunday in Dubai.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Nusrat Bhutto had been awarded posthumously with the title of "Mother of Democracy." Nusrat was the widow of former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhtto, who was hanged in 1979 after a military coup, and mother of former two-time premier Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.
She led the Pakistan Peoples' Party before her daughter took over and won parliamentary elections following the death of dictator General Ziaul Haq to become prime minister. Nusrat also saw the mysterious deaths of her two sons Shahnawaz Bhutto and Murtza Bhutto. Both were in conflicts for the political inheritance of the party. Zardari was once charged of conspiracy in the death of Murtaza Bhutto, but was never convicted. He became president after the party won the 2008 elections following his wife's death.