Queen of Pashto music Qazalbash dies at 62

Mahjabeen had been hospitalised after suffering a heart attack at the turn of the year

PESHAWAR: Pashtu melody queen Surraiya Khanum — popularly known as Mahjabeen Qazalbash — passed away on Wednesday. She was 62-years-of-age.

Qazalbash had been receiving treatment at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar since the turn of the year when she had suffered a heart attack.

LRH spokesperson Muhammad Asim told The Express Tribune that Qazalbash had been on a ventilator ever since she had been admitted to the hospital on January 1.

“She had been on a ventilator for over a month and today (Wednesday) in the evening, the doctors declared her as dead,” the LRH spokesperson said.

Asim further conceded that Qazalbash had developed bedsores.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) culture department had been providing financial support for Qazalbash’s treatment.

Qazalbash was born in 1958 in Kucha Risaldar area of Peshawar to an Iranian-born Pakistani national who had settled in Peshawar.

Qazalbash’s real name could not be ascertained, however, it was widely believed that her name was Surraiya Khanum

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2020.