Abida Parveen recovering after cardiac arrest

LAHORE - Renowned folk and ghazal singer Abida Parveen has undergone angiography and angioplasty after suffering from a mild cardiac arrest in Lahore, media reports said Sunday.

The 56-year-old, who lives in Karachi, was visiting Lahore for a performance when she complained of chest pain and was immediately rushed to a hospital. After performing some initial tests, the doctors immediately recommended angiography and angioplasty that was done Sunday.

“Abida is still under observation in the intensive-care unit (ICU) of Lahore’s premier Doctors’ Hospital”, Dunya TV reported. Her close family friend Najeeb Sultan, talking to media, said that “her condition is now out of danger and requested the fans to pray for her early recovery.”

Sarwar, who is treating Abida Parveen, told IANS: “She is recovering well and is likely to be discharged from hospital in four-five days. There is absolutely no danger of her not being able to sing after this operation. She can perform very much like before after recovering completely.”

Abida Parveen is known for singing Sufi songs and is equally popular in Pakistan and India for her spell-binding renditions and performances. She has performed all over the world during her career spanning more than three decades has also been decorated with president’s pride of performance award in Pakistan.

Some of her popular songs are “Duma dum mast qalandar”, “Tere Ishq nachaya” and “Ho jamalo”, the singer croons in various languages - Urdu, Sindhi, Seraiki, Punjabi and Persian. Her last album “Rukh-e-Murshid”, a tribute to her spiritual master Murshid Sahibzada Muhammad Najeeb Sultan, released last year.

She has millions of fans in India and had recently visited the capital for a concert

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)