NAWABSHAH, May 25: Veteran politician Hakim Ali Zardari was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in the village of Baalu-Ja-Qubba, about 10 kilometres from here, on Wednesday.

The funeral prayers were offered at the Zardari House, led by Pir Khalid Sultan Bahu, a member of Islamic Ideology Council. The body was taken by road to the graveyard.

President Asif Ali Zardari and other members of the family went to the graveyard in a helicopter.

The president himself lowered the body of his father into the grave and offered fateha. He laid floral wreaths at the grave of his father, mother and other relatives.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Minister Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, MNAs Mir Munawar Talpur and Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Sindh ministers Pir Mazharul Haq, Agha Siraj Durrani, Sharjeel Memon and Syed Murad Ali Shah, MPAs Ghulam Qadir Chandio, Jam Tamachi Unnar, Waseem Ahmed and Suhail Yousuf and a large number of people attended the funeral.

Strict security arrangements were made for the occasion and all roads leading to Zardari House were closed to traffic.

Later, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Punjab Governor Latif Khosa, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kauser, Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad Khan, Balochistan Governor Zulfiqar Magsi, federal ministers Syed Naveed Qamar, Aijaz Jakhrani, Rehman Malik, Manzoor Watoo, Ayatullah Durrani and Arbab Alamgir, Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, MNAs Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Javed Hashmi and Ameer Muqaam, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Aftab Shaban Mirani, Fakhar Imam, Gul Mohammed Jakhrani, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur, Nawab Yusuf Talpur, N.D. Khan, Senator Khalid Mehmood Soomro, Illahi Bux Soomro, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, Sardar Yar Mohammed Jamali, Syed Sadruddin Shah Rashidi, government officials and workers and supporters of PPP from all over the country came to Zardari House and offered condolences to President Zardari.

MNAs Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and Faryal Talpur and Fouzia Zardari, daughters of late Hakim Ali Zardari, received condolences from Begum Abida Hussain, Sherry Rehman, Sassui Palijo, Shehla Raza and a large number of party workers and supporters.

The district government of Shaheed Benazirabad had declared Wednesday a day of mourning and local holiday.

The Soyem of Hakim Ali Zardari will be held on Thursday after Asr prayers.