November 13, 2002	Wednesday	Ramazan 7, 1423

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KARACHI, Nov 12: Bilqis Hakim Ali Zardari, the wife of Hakim Ali Zardari and mother of Asif Ali Zardari, died of broncho-pulmonary pneumonia in a local hospital on Tuesday. She was 72.

Asif was shifted from PIMS in Islamabad to Dr Ziauddin Hospital on Friday to see his mother. He was by her bedside when doctors pronounced her dead at 1:30pm.

The body was taken to Nawabshah by road after Isha, where she would be buried in the Balojo Qubo graveyard on Wednesday morning. Earlier, her namaz-i-janaza was offered at the Zardari House after Maghrib.

Ms Zardari was the daughter of Hassan Ali Effendi, the founder of Sindh Madressahtul Islam. She leaves behind her husband, daughters Farial, Azra and Fauzia, and son Asif to mourn her death.

Asif, the husband of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, was released on parole so that he could attend the burial. He was in the same ambulance that carried the body from the hospital to the Zardari House. A strong security cordon was nevertheless maintained throughout the route and at the destination.

Sources close to the family said that an earlier attempt to enable Asif to see his mother had been made but the authorities had not paid any attention to that. He was only allowed to see her after she had gone into a coma.