LARKANA, Jan 19: Shirin Amir Begum, the widow of former prime minister late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, died of cardiac arrest here on Sunday. She was 82.

She was laid to rest near the grave of her husband in the ancestral graveyard of the Bhutto family in Garhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhutto.

Hearing the news of her death, hundreds of people thronged the residence of Benazir Bhutto in Naudero town and the whole town remained shut as a mark of mourning.

Shirin Begum, who was the first wife of Bhutto, developed chest congestion and was shifted to the cardiology department of the Chandka Medical College Hospital here on late Saturday night.

There, she suffered a heart attack and later her kidneys stopped functioning and she died.

PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and her sister Sanam Bhutto were informed of the death in Dubai and London, respectively. Later, Ms Bhutto contacted her house in Naudero by telephone to offer condolence.

Shirin Begum was married to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, her cousin, in 1951 when Mr Bhutto was 23-year-old and was studying in Bombay.

She returned to Naudero when Mr Bhutto left for London for pursuing higher studies. Since then, she remained there.

She had no child but adopted a girl Lubna, who is working at present in Saudi Arabia.