
Late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan8217;s ancestral home in Faisalabad is being used to sell sacrificial animals for Eid. The Legend8217;s house in the Punjab province resounds of goats8217; bleating as the building where the musical genius spent his childhood has now been turned in animal sale point. The room where he practiced his ragas has also been hijacked by cows and goats.
Khan, who popularised qawwali to a worldwide audience and collaborated with Western musicians like Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, died at the age of 48 in 1997.
His family sold off the ancestral home a couple of months ago, but the use it is being put to now is shocking Khan8217;s fans.
Rafiq Ahmed, who lives in the neighbourhood, was hurt at the conversion of Khan8217;s home into a pen for animals. 8220;Keeping in view Nusrat8217;s status, the house should be declared a monument. It should be renovated and opened for visitors,8221; Ahmed said.
8220;It is a matter of shame for the Government that the place where a legend spent his childhood is being used as an animal sale point. The place could also be used a music academy,8221; he added.
Haider Abbas Shah, who bought the house, told the Dawn: 8220;I am not interested in saving the house only because it once belonged to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I am now the owner of the property and have established the animal sale centre here for the time being.8221;