Aaroh guitarist Haider Hashmi passes away

KARACHI: What could might as well be the most shocking news for pop music in Pakistan , Haider Hashmi the guitarist for Aaroh and session player for many other artists passed away yesterday around 11 pm. The 40 year old musician was diagnosed with brain tumor a couple of weeks earlier and was immediately scheduled for a brain surgery. 

According to his close friends, he had a successful recovery from the surgery and had been interacting with friends for the past few days untill he complained of breathlessness.

" I spoke to him a while back and everything was fine untill his son called me to inform that he is having difficulty in breathing and is being rushed to the hospital " Khalid Khan , the bassist of Aaroh and Hashmi's close friend told The Express Tribune. " And after a while heard the sad news".

Hashmi was the father of three children, with the eldest son in his mid teens and the youngest son , only a few months old. The burial details and the friends and family of the deceased has requested for prayers.

A v talented guitar player&a lovely human being Haider Hashmi passes away. He had played gtr on my song "Jazba".R.i.p pic.twitter.com/EqFhgSLXtj

— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) July 6, 2014

Hashimi replaced Aaroh’s founding member and lead guitarist Nabeel Nihal Chishty when he left the band around 2004-2005 over a copyright dispute. In that time period they produced some of the most memorable songs like ' Na Kaho' , 'Pyar Ka jaal ' and 'Raag Neela' to name a few.  The band stopped producing music for a while , after Aaroh’s lead vocalist Farooq Ahmed left the band for good. Later on , Hashimi along with other two members, Khalid Khan and Jason, relaunched the band with Rizwan Anwar as the new vocalist.