BATKHELA: Senior Pashto singer Sardar Yousafzai has appealed to federal and provincial governments to provide him with financial support to get his son treated abroad.

Talking to Dawn here on Thursday, he said that his 11-year-old son Zaland had been suffering for the last over six years from a mysterious disease in which one of his legs had to be amputated if treated in the country. Doctors’ suggestion to transport young Zaland to foreign country for treatment without amputation put the senior Pashto singer into a mental imbalance as he said he could not afford his costly cure abroad.

“I cannot afford such a costly treatment. In my humble capacity whatever I could, I did but let’s see how far my sound could reach and who would respond to my genuine cause as artists and singers are in this country normally not considered worthy of being heard,” the noted singer lamented.

Sardar Yousafzai says he has spent whatever he had on treatment of his son

He said that he couldn’t help his son lose one leg at his tender age. “I expect my fans, well-wishers and philanthropists come to my help at this hour of destitute. He is third of my six siblings and he is very talented. He wants to become engineer in future but serious illness has reduced him to just a skeleton,” the ghazal maestro said while welled up his eyes.

Recently, he added, doctors had diagnosed the disease to be posterior tumor. He said that his son had been receiving treatment from several doctors but they were unable to diagnose cause of illness of teenager Zaland.

“After years of investigations, the doctors arrived at the conclusion that my son’s leg had developed posterior tumor and that its surgery is possible without amputation,” said Mr Yousafzai.

According to doctors, he said, if his son was sent abroad, his affected leg could be treated properly without being amputated. He said that he spent every single penny he had on the treatment of his son but all in vain.

“I am suffering from extreme mental depression because of my son’s sickness. I therefore, make an earnest appeal to both federal and provincial governments to extend financial support to me so that I could get my son treated abroad,” he entreated.

Mr Yousafzai said that he had sold out his car and other belongings for treatment of his son during the last six years. He said that he like other artists and singers had made many sacrifices for the sake of art and culture but authorities never bothered about his plight. He said he had survived several attacks by militants but never succumbed to their threats.

Mr Yousafzai is a popular ghazal singer and a resident of Aladhand Derai in Malakand. He has 400 audio and videos albums to his credit. He is recipient of countless awards and commendation certificates from various literary and cultural organisations. He came to lime light when militants attacked his car in Lower Dir on December 15, 2008 in which he had received serious bullet injuries while one of his colleagues Ustad Anwar Gul was killed.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016