In the roller-coaster world of Pakistani politics, Begum Bhutto saw many ups and downs.
Belonging to a well-to-do Iranian business family she had the good fortune of becoming the country’s first lady when Zulfikar Ali 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.
Her husband was hanged after a controversial judgment, one son was gunned down in Karachi and the other died in Paris in mysterious circumstances.
But she continued to fight against all odds, leading her husband’s party, the People’s Party, from the front.
Nusrat Bhutto did not come from a political dynasty. She belonged to an Iranian business family which had trading houses in Iran, Iraq and undivided India.
Settled in Ispahan (Iran), her great grandfather had studied at Najaf Ashraf in Iraq and set up his business there. Once back in Iran, he rose to the position of Ayatollah.
One of his children, Mirza Mohammad, was born in Najaf but finally settled in Iran. He was a liberal man and wanted to change with the changing times.
In his youth, Mohammad visited Bombay and decided to start a business there under the name of the Baghdad Soap Factory.
It was in Bombay that Nusrat Ispahani, as Begum Bhutto was known before marriage, was born on March 23, 1929. She was the third child of her father.
Education in Bombay imbued Nusrat with a liberal outlook, although her mother was a conservative woman who wanted her to wear a veil after she passed her Cambridge examinations and began going to college. It was the veil which prevented Nusrat from pursuing higher studies.
During one of her family’s several visits to the scenic Khandala town Nusrat met Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto’s family. When Nusrat’s family shifted to Karachi, the friendship between the two families deepened.
At that time Z.A. Bhutto had returned from the United States after completing his studies. By then Nusrat had joined Pakistan National Guards. She married Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1951 in Karachi.
It was after her marriage that Mr Bhutto went to England for law studies and Nusrat accompanied him. Mr Bhutto was already married to Amir Begum and Nusrat was his second wife.
Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto had close ties with the family of former president Iskandar Mirza who brought Zulfikar Ali Bhutto into politics a little before Gen Ayub Khan overthrew Mirza on Oct 7, 1958.
Zulfikar and Nusrat were in Larkana when they got the message that Ayub Khan wanted to retain Bhutto as a minister. It was on Nusrat’s advice that Bhutto accepted the offer.
Nusrat Bhutto was herself elected twice to the Pakistani parliament.
She led the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) until her daughter took over in the mid-1980s.
Her husband, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was the founder of the PPP, which controls the government in Pakistan today.
He was prime minister and president in the 1970s.
Nusrat Bhutto led the PPP for several years after her husband was hanged in 1979, during the military rule of Gen Zia-ul-Haq.
Her daughter, Benazir, later took over as head of the PPP and served twice as prime minister.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007, shortly after returning to the country to participate in elections following years of exile. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is now Pakistan's president.
Nusrat Bhutto will be buried in the family's mausoleum in southern Sindh province, a PPP spokesman said.
All about:Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, Gen Zia-ul-Haq, Gen Ayub Khan, Pakistan People's Party
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