Praise For Begum Nusrat Bhutto (Late) by Indian Express

Begum Nusrat Bhutto's posthumous crowning as "Mother of Democracy" by a party which had stripped her of its chairpersonship, and her decoration with Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest civilian honour, by her son-in-law president come as exercises to cover up a guilty conscience. The nationwide public holiday declared on her funeral day on October 24 and the 10-day mourning are similarly hollow moves on the part of the government. The lady was over and above all such cosmetic gestures. She was truly Pakistan's iron lady with the nerves of steel and a will to match. She always stood up and told the truth challenging dictatorial conduct, whether it be that of a general or of her own daughter. As Pakistanis mourn Begum Sahiba's passing, one's mind races back to September 20,1996 when her elder son, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, was gunned down by security personnel outside the Bhutto home in Karachi. Her daughter, Benazir, was Prime Minister at the time and embroiled in a brutal rivalry with her brother. The case was callously brushed aside and no one was brought to justice for killing Murtaza and his friends in cold blood. Composed and elegant even in grief, Begum Sahiba held forth before the media and squarely blamed her daughter's government of dictatorial conduct, calling her worse than Zia-ul Haq, who had dared not attack her house let alone stage a fake police encounter to take his political opponents out. The daughter retaliated by stripping the mother of her party title, taking on the chairpersonship herself and for life. Indian Express