KARACHI, 20 January 2003 — The first wife of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto passed away yesterday at the age of 87. Family sources said Amir Begum suffered stroke last night and subsequently died. Bhutto, founder of the Pakistan People’s Party, was executed by the military government of late Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 for complicity in a judge’s murder. His daughter Benazir took over the party command after him and twice became prime minister — in 1990 and 1993. She has been in exile since 1998. Bhutto married Amir Begum in 1950. He married Nusrat, his second wife, soon afterward. Nusrat now lives with Benazir in UAE. Amir Begum had no child. Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party is now in opposition after the October elections that saw the pro-military coalition form government in the center and two provinces. The six-party religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal that made surprising gains in the October elections has formed government in the NWFP.
