March 11, 2002	Monday	Zilhaj 26, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, March 10: A tribute to the Melody Queen Nur Jehan turned out to be a great disappointment for the hundreds of Nur Jehan lovers, who came to the National Library Auditorium on Saturday night to hear Yasmin Rashid sing Nur Jehan.

There is no dearth of good Pakistani classical or semi- classical male and female singers in Pakistan who could qualify for paying tributes to the melody queen but the organizers of Eastern Cultural Club messed up the event where 60 members of Saarc were also invited. The songs rendered by Yasmin Rashid left much to be desired.

Known Pakistani poet Ahmed Faraz summed up the feelings of those present at the function and said that though there is no singer comparable to Nur Jehan, calibre was required to copy Nur Jehan.

Ahmed Faraz, speaking to the gathering recalled the qualities of the artist, that Nur Jehan was. He recounted interesting anecdotes about her and of a secretary of culture who kept pestering her about his meetings with her during air travels. Once the impishness in Nur Jehan got better of her patience and she cried out:” How could she remember an ungainly face?”

He said on her visit to the Lok Virsa Festival, she was so overwhelmed by the respect and love showered by the people that she gave a performance, although that was not a part of her programme.

The function which was scheduled to start at 8:30pm was late by one hour. During the waiting period, the organizers put on a video of Nur Jehan’s popular songs.

Fareeda Khanum and Zile Huma’s name were among the performers but both did not turn up. A video message of Zile Huma was played, regretting her absence.

Indian Information Minister Sushma Swaraj stepped into the auditorium at around 10:20pm, causing brief interruption in the programme with bureaucrats and protocol officials scurrying around.

Yasmin Rashid-the main singer, who hails from US, Ohio started the programme with a Punjabi number “Meri Chichi da Shalla Mahi lah Laya”, followed by two more Punjabi songs of Nur Jehan.

At the end of the function, Indian Information Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke at the gathering of diplomats, Saarc delegates and the city elite.

She expressed her gratitude to the organizers for the programme. On her arrival, she was warmly greeted by the audience. Ms Swaraj said Nur Jehan was not only the ace artist of Pakistan but she was truly the Melody Queen of entire subcontinent. She narrated an incident that when her party’s parliamentary leader Arif Khan was studying at Aligarh University, a peon told him that he would like to hear Nur Jehan sing live.

When Arif Khan became the information minister of India, he invited Nur Jehan to visit India and sponsored a performance in New Delhi and invited the peon from Aligarh to the concert. The peon was so overwhelmed by the fulfilment of his desire that the peon breathed his last at the performance.

Ms Swaraj said that instead of calling Nur Jehan as Madame, she should be called Melody Queen or Begum Nur Jehan.

Tributes were paid to the Melody Queen by Agha Nasir and poetess Shabnam Shakeel during their speech