Begum Nusrat Bhutto — a Living Legend

March 23 in 1940 in Lahore was the historic day when Muslims of India under the dynamic leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah resolved to seek an independent homeland on the basis of the right of self-determination to pursue their lives in accordance with the democratic egalitarian spirit of Islam, tolerance and peaceful co-existence with the sole emphasis on the equality to its citizens irrespective of their caste, creed, colour or gender.

It is, indeed, also a historic coincidence that in the year 1929 on March 23 Isphanis of Karachi were gifted by Almighty Allah, the Most Generous, with Nusrat Khanum chosen by destiny to be the great woman behind a colossus of a man that her husband Zulfikar Ali Bhutto grew to be and mother to yet another leader of world class Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who did her illustrious parents and Muslim Ummah a proud to be the first Muslim woman to be the prime minister twice.

Unlike many of her male counterparts who showed instant preference to surrender at the first crack of the military dictator’s whip, it was Begum Bhutto who first dared to assume the responsibility of leading the leaderless masses during the ruthless years when her husband Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) was incarcerated by Ayub Khan for opposing his sell-out on Kashmir to Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at Tashkent. Surely very few women in a nation’s history have left such an indelible imprint on sands of time as Begum Bhutto. Though passing days in a state of inertia and unaware of what is happening around she must be satisfied that though her country is pitched against insurmountable challenges, it is being led by a person chosen to be her son-in-law and the party PPP that ZAB founded to keep alighted the flame and vision of democracy, empowerment of less privileged, including women and minorities given new lease of life by the sacrifice in blood by her daughter.

The revenge of the Pakistani people has been strongly reflected in their unwavering support to Pakistan People’s Party. History was repeated in 2008 when PPP led by Asif Ali Zadari following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination – emerged as the majority party.