Happy birthday: Benazir Bhutto remembered through photos, blood donations

Her pictor­ial biogra­phy launch­ed, first dental colleg­e in northe­rn Sindh inaugu­rated.

NAUDERO/HYDERABAD:

Cakes were cut, seminars were organised and blood was donated as people remembered former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the late wife of President Asif Ali Zardari on her 58th birthday on Tuesday.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007 after she had addressed a public gathering in Rawalpindi.

The day started with a Quran Khwani at Garhi Khuda Bux, the Bhutto family graveyard and mausoleum. The security was tightened around the area — around 3,500 policemen and 300 Rangers personnel were deployed.

Many delegates, MNAs, MPAs from across the country visited Garhi Khuda Bux and recited Fateha. US Consul General William Martin and consular staff also visited and paid homage to Benazir Bhutto.

A nationwide blood donation campaign was organised by the Pakistan Peoples Party in which President Zardari, along with his daughter Aseefa, also donated blood. The blood would be distributed among government hospitals and the armed forces.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah also visited Garhi Khuda Bux. Bhutto sacrificed her life for democracy and such a sacrifice the nation can never forget, he told the media.

Meanwhile, in Karachi, a Quran Khawani, seminars and a walk was organised. Blood donation camps were also set up.

Benazir Bhutto was also remembered in Hyderabad where a Quran Khwani was organised at the district council garden which was attended by PPP ministers, leaders and supporters.

Pictorial biography launched

In Naudero, Benazir Bhutto’s pictorial biography was launched. It carries 1,100 photographs of the former prime minister, some of which were unpublished up till now. In his briefing, Sindh information department director general Tariq Khehro said the biography took three years to complete.

Dental college inaugurated

The president inaugurated the Assefa Dental College in Larkana, a subsidiary institution of the Benazir Bhutto Medical University. Classes at the college will start September. This would be the first dental college in northern Sindh. President Zardari also laid the foundation stone of the Benazir Institute of Nursing and Community Health Sciences.

IWITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP AND PPI

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2011.