Karachi: Fatima Bhutto, author, activist, and the granddaughter of Pakistan’s late prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, set a new precedent by visiting a Hindu temple here after her marriage, stirring the social media with some users praising the gesture while others wondering what was she doing there. The intimate nikkah ceremony of Fatima, 40, niece of slain premier Benazir Bhutto and daughter of Murtaza Bhutto, took place at her grandfather’s library here on Friday.

Fatima and her husband, Graham Gibran stirred social media when they visited the ancient Mahadev Temple in Karachi on Sunday as a homage to Hindu Sindhis laying the roots of Karachi in ancient times.

Accompanied by her brother Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto junior and Hindu leaders at the temple, Fatima and her husband, a Christian, poured milk over the deity as per rituals.

The gesture received a mixed response after their picture hit social media.

“Lovely to watch such images,” a Twitter user commented on the picture.

“Lovely,” another user wrote.

But many wondered what she was doing in a Hindu temple.

“What is the essence of this rasam (ritual),” another Twitter user asked.

“So in Sindh secularism is to follow Hinduism,” another said.

Fatima’s brother in a tweet said that due to the difficult circumstances felt by our fellow countrymen and women, we all felt it would be inappropriate to celebrate lavishly.

“Please keep Fatima and Graham (Gibran) in your prayers,” he stated.

According to media reports, Fatima’s husband Graham is an American citizen.

The Bhutto family has remained a formidable force in Pakistan politics but has also been hit by tragedies.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the late military dictator Zia ul Haq in April 1979 after a military coup.

His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto who also served as premier, was assassinated in Rawalpindi in December 2007.

Her brother Murtaza Bhutto was also killed along with six other party activists in September 1996 near the Bhutto’s residence in Clifton by the police at a time when his sister was the prime minister.

Her younger brother Shahnawaz Bhutto was found dead in his apartment in France in 1985.

 

Source: PTI