Known Pushto singer Hidayatullah passes away at 79

PESHAWAR: Known singer and Pride of Performance Award recipient Hidayatullah passed away due to multiple health complications here on Saturday. He was 79.

His funeral prayer was held at Daag Besud village in Pabbi tehsil in Nowshera district. A large number of people, well-wishers and villagers attended the funeral.

Later, he was laid to rest at this ancestral graveyard. He is survived by two widows. His children, including two sons and three daughters are all from his first wife. He did not have children from his second wife. He had been ill for quite some time.

Hidayatullah was born on November 9, 1940. He started singing since early childhood. He had done his matriculation from the Edwardes High School. However, he could not continue his education due to poverty.

In 1959, a known producer Arbab Abdul Wadood introduced him by providing him an opportunity to sing at Radio Pakistan Peshawar. Later, he also appeared on the Pakistan Television.

He was employed at the Forest Department in 1960 and retired in 2000 as senior clerk.

The Pride of Performance Award was conferred upon him by the then President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari in 1995. He also received numerous other awards from cultural organisations.

The senior artiste had been living in oblivion since 2004 owing to domestic issues coupled with health problems.

None of his children followed in the footprints of their father to become a singer. He visited rgw US, Europe and UAE on several occasions and sang songs in Pashto, Urdu, Hindko and Persian.

Hidayatullah was the fan of iconic Indian playback singer Mohammad Rafi. Pashto poet Amir Hamza Shinwari and Urdu poet Qateel Shifai were his favourite literary personalities.

He visited Afghanistan on the invitation of the last Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah.