Nusrat Bhutto, Kurdish erstwhile "First Lady Pakistan", dead @ 82

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15428544

Nusrat Bhutto (centre) led the Pakistan People's Party until her daughter Benazir (left) took over.

Pakistan mourns former first lady Nusrat Bhutto

2011/10/24 06:08 ET

Pakistan has declared a public holiday and flags are flying at half-mast to mourn the death of former first lady Begum Nusrat Bhutto at 82.

As government offices, shops, schools and businesses closed across the country, a 10-day period of national mourning was declared.

She was the widow of the former Prime Minister and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and the mother of assassinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

She died after a long illness in Dubai.

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, later serving 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.

Mourning began on Monday with the national flag flying at half mast.

President Zardari, son Bilawal Bhutto and daughters Bakhtawar, Asifa and Sanam Bhutto, will accompany the body from Dubai in a chartered plane, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

The burial is due to take place on Monday evening.

Nusrat Bhutto will be buried in the family's mausoleum in southern Sindh province, a PPP spokesman said.

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.