Within seconds, the Internet, newspapers and the rest of the news media around the globe were flashing the news of her final journey.

Amidst the sobs and tears, almost every one had one thing in mind, i.e., “God Almighty had showered Nazia with all the bounties, except length of age.

One could easily rank her as the first and foremost pop singer of Asia, generally and the Indo-Pak subcontinent in particular. Born in a well to do, highly enlightened family in 1965, she had shown an aptitude for music from her earlier days.

As a young child, she frequently appeared in Pakistan television’s music program for children, called  “Sung Sung”. Sohail Rana was the lead person of that show. Her father Baseer and her mother Muneeza took great interest in the upbringing and education of Nazia and her younger brother, Zohaib.

Both of these gifted kids were admitted to school in London, where they received education as well as lessons in music.

In 1978, in England, thirteen-year-old Nazia recorded a song “Aap jaisa koi meri zindigi mein Aaye, tou baath bun jaaye” (film: Qurbani, music: Biddu, lyrics: Indeevar, pictured on Zeenat Aman).

“Aap jaisa koi” is considered the first pop song of the Indo-Pak Subcontinent, the greatest achievement of Nazia, hence, and a milestone in her music career.

In 1979, both Nazia and Zohaib came out with their first music album “Disco Deewanay”, which happened to be a record-breaking collection of pop songs.

She became the heartthrob of teenagers with songs like:

Komal palkain bojhal
Boom boom
Dum dum, dee dee
Aaona pyar karain, and many more.

Nazia was married to an entrepreneur, Ishtiaq Baig, in 1995, with whom she had a son, Areez, in 1997.She had been battling against cancer since 1996 and eventually succumbed to it on Sunday morning. She was only 35 years old.

An admirer of Nazia had confided in me the other day: “How could this happen to such a decent girl, with a sweet voice, who had brought happiness to the lives of millions of music lovers around the world. Oh God, why Nazia”?

“Nazia had, indeed, walked all the steps, that had been ordained for her by an authority, which is greater than any human agency”

I answered calmly.

Anis Ahmed Shakur is associated with the research department of Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY and the V.A. Hospital, Brooklyn and Manhattan. He started his practical life as a writer in 1973 and written extensively on different subjects including the Pakistan film industry. He can be contacted at anisshakur@netscape.net, anisshakur@yahoo.com.