Dubai: Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto's mother Nusrat Bhutto turned 81 yesterday, as her birthday coincides with the National Day celebrations.
Bhutto, widow of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former prime minister and founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was the chairperson of the party from 1979-1983 before her daughter Benazir Bhutto took over the reins.
However, the octogenarian was unaware of her birthday since she had lost her memory years ago after a head injury that she had received in a protest during the former dictator Zia ul Haq's tenure.
Born on March 23, 1929, Bhutto has been living in Dubai for the last 10 years. She came to the emirate to live with her daughter Benazir, who spent eight years in self-exile and took care of her ailing mother apart from commanding the PPP.
‘National asset'
"Begum Bhutto is a great woman and a national asset not only because she is the woman behind two great leaders of our country — Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto — but also, she in her own right, has fought a heroic struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country," said Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on the occasion of her 81st birthday.
She is a living example of a life standing tall despite unspeakable tragedies inflicted upon her by successive dictatorships.
In the struggle for democracy, she witnessed and endured the execution of her husband Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto through judicial abuse, the tragic assassination of her two sons Shahnawaz Bhutto and Murtaza Bhutto in the prime, and Benazir Bhutto.
