KHAIRPUR, June 24: Blind flute player Rehmatullah Bhutto who has performed in several music programmes on radio, sounds bitter when he speaks of government steps for the welfare of poor artistes and civil society’s indifference towards talented but unconnected people like him.

Mr Bhutto told journalists on Sunday that he was blind by birth. His sister, Zakia Bhutto, was partially blind since her birth and disabled by both her legs and they were forced to live in extreme poverty because there was no one to take care of them.

When asked whether he received zakat or any other financial support from the government, a bitter Bhutto said that it took connections with officials to be able to get even a paltry sum from zakat funds or something from other government packages. Besides having no connections, he could not buy any gifts for officials, he added.

He complained that he had never been officially invited to musical events on the occasions of Urs of Sachal Sarmast and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. Radio Pakistan had put him in AA category for his performance still Pakistan Television, Sindh Culture Department and Lok Virsa Islamabad had never invited him to any programme.

He wanted to perform nationally and internationally but it appeared a dream that might not ever come true given the prevailing conditions, a frustrated Bhutto remarked.

He said he had completed eighth grade with first position from a government school for the blind in Khairpur before the school was shifted to Sukkur. He had to discontinue studies because he could no longer afford it.

He received training in music from a blind teacher, Maseeh-ul-Hassan Zaidi, and learnt to sing and play flute as well. The school also taught him knitting chairs, he added.

He said he had the flair for music in his veins as his father, Allah Wadhayo Faqir, used to sing folk music with a Yaktaro (one stringer) and he used to sing with him before joining school.

He showed his talent on Radio Pakistan Khairpur in 1988 after he passed an audition at the radio station as a flute player. He played flute on radio with many singers including Sohrab Faqir, Abdul Hameed Abbasi, Singhar Ali Saleem and Ustad Gulzar Ali Khan in live as well as recorded programmes.

In 1990 he used to play flute in “Saaz Ain Awaz”, a programme broadcast simultaneously by Radio Pakistan Khairpur and on channel-2 of Radio Pakistan Hyderabad.

He had played with Abida Parveen, Waheed Ali, Zarina Baloch, Shafi Mohammad Juman and Mohammad Yousuf.