BEGUM BHUTTO DIES

Former chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and first lady, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, died at the age of 82 in Dubai on Sunday after protracted illness. The body of Begum Bhutto will be brought to Sukkur from Dubai on a chartered flight on Monday morning. She will be buried in Garhi Khuda Buksh in Larkana beside the grave of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced national holiday across the country on Monday to mourn the sad demise of Begum Nusrat Bhutto.
The Prime Minister also announced 10 days' government mourning, and cancelled all his engagements, and postponed the Federal Cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
According to a press release, the prime minister also spoke to President Asif Ali Zardari on telephone and conveyed his deepest condolences on the sad demise of Begum Nusrat Bhutto and stated that her contribution for democracy, restoration of constitution and right of the people will be remembered for long.
Gilani termed the demise of Nusrat Bhutto as an irreparable loss for Pakistan People's Party (PPP), its workers, and the people of the country.
Spokesman to the President, Farhatullah Babar, in a press release confirmed the death of Begum Bhutto, stating that "she died in a Dubai hospital on Sunday afternoon after a protracted illness, and in her tragic and eventful life she witnessed and endured the death of her husband and three children but refused to compromise with dictatorship".
Farhat said that the former First Lady and the mother of Benazir Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto, Shahnawaz Bhutto and Sanam Bhutto will be buried in ancestral graveyard of Bhutto in Garhi Khuda Bux with deep scars on her body and soul of relentless fight against dictatorship.
Sanam Bhutto, her only survivor, and grandchildren Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari presently in UK, are expected to arrive in Dubai on Monday to accompany the dead body on its long journey to its final resting place.
In line with the countrywide public holiday announced by the prime minister, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), all banks and Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) will remain closed on Monday.
Following the Prime Minister's announcement, SBP spokesman Waseemuddin announced that the country's central bank (SBP) and all other banks will remain closed on Monday.
The Karachi Stock Exchange will also remain closed on Monday, the managing director of Karachi Stock Exchange Nadeem Naqvi announced on Sunday. Therefore, Monday's clearing would be merged and will take place on Tuesday.
According to private TV channels, all educational institutions including schools, colleges, universities and all offices of federal, provincial and local governments will also remain closed on Monday.
APP adds: Begum Nusrat Bhutto was born in Isfahan, Iran on 23 March, 1929. She married to founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1951.
After the death of her husband in 1979, she remained the chairperson of the PPP from 1979 to 1983.
She was allowed to leave Pakistan by the military government of Ziaul Haq in 1982 for London after she was diagnosed with cancer.
She was elected Member of National Assembly (MNA) from Larkana in 1988 and 1993.
Nusrat Bhutto had two sons Mir Murtaza Bhutto and Shahnawaz Bhutto and two daughters Benazir Bhutto and Sanam Bhutto.
The body of Begum Nusrat Bhutto will be brought to Sukkur from Dubai on a chartered flight on Sunday night.
She will be buried in Garhi Khuda Buksh in Larkana beside the grave of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
The Pakistan People's Party has announced 40-day mourning on the death of its leader
Begum Nusrat Bhutto waged almost a decade long political struggle for revival of democracy, restoration of the constitution and upholding of fundamental rights of Pakistani people in the face of brutal dictatorship.
Nusrat Ispahani was an Iranian from Kurdistan Province, by heritage and daughter of a wealthy Iranian businessman who settled in Karachi, then British India before partition. Nusrat met Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Karachi where they got married, which was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's 2nd marriage.
As first lady from 1973-77, Nusrat Bhutto functioned as a political leader 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 placed under house arrest by the then regime of late dictator 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 PPP during her London exile and although she was chairperson of the party for life, her daughter Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto later replaced her.
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 Benazir, she became a cabinet minister. She then used to live with her daughter's family in Dubai and suffered from the effects of a stroke and Alzheimer's disease.
An Iranian Kurd by origin tracing her ancestry to the legendary Islamic hero, statesman and a great soldier Salahuddin Ayubi, Nusrat Bhutto was surfeit with compassion, grit, dauntless determination and courage from the days of her childhood. And her dynamism, love and care for humanity blossomed her into a young lady who would strive, seek and not yield at a challenging time when loads and loads of trains packed with refugees from India were pouring into Karachi in the aftermath of partition of the sub-continent.
As a self-less member of the Women's National Guard, she rendered herself day and night into the relief operation of the millions of the uprooted refugees, feeding them, providing them shelter and succour.
Her marriage to Shaheed Zulifikar Ali Bhutto was also a great turning point in her life.
Despite the fact that as the wife of Pakistan's most dynamic foreign minister, she had to travel with him far and wide, but she did not allow any strain on her responsibilities as a perfect mother. Her total devotion in bringing up their children is perhaps the reason that all of their children were highly educated.
Twice Begum Bhutto was elected member of the National Assembly, remained a senior minister and also a constant source of inspiration for her daughter former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, masses and PPP workers especially. She received various international awards for her immense contribution to the greatest good of the largest number especially workers, women and children.
Begum Nusrat Bhutto had always been a fighter. She fought the battle for the empowerment of the people in the streets against dictatorship.