PESHAWAR: Popular Pashto folk singer Badshah Zarin Jan died here after protracted illness.She was laid to rest at the Abdus Sattar Shah Bacha Graveyard in Shah Qabool Colony on Wednesday. Born in 1936 at Par Hoti, Mardan in a family of professional singers, Badshah Zarin Jan started singing at wedding ceremonies at an early age. She sang Hafeez Jallandhari’s poetry in 1948 when she was 12 years old. Besides Pashto folk, she used to sing Urdu and Persian. Her father Abdur Rahim had six daughters and among them Badshah Zarin Jan and Qamro Jan won popularity as singers.She did not marry and devoted her life to singing. She volunteered to sing patriotic songs during the 1965 Pak-India war to boost the soldiers’ morale. She was given an award by the then chief of army staff and President Ayub Khan for devotion to the cause of the motherland. After having served serving the Pashto language and culture for almost seven decades, the noted singer lived in a modest house in the suburban Bakhshu Pul area. She spent the last days of her life in misery due to poverty and illness. She was the recipient of many awards and shields.Literary and artistic circles including the Culture Journalists Forum have expressed grief and sorrow over Badshah Zarin Jan’s death and prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul.
