The gems world lost in 2016
The year witnessed some notable deaths of prominent personalities.
LAHORE (Web Desk) - Time passes but the grief of departed souls continues to uproar the hearts. There was indeed an uptick in personalities’ demises in 2016 as the world has lost superstars, prominent personalities and some greatest athletes.
Here is a look of some famous national and international figures who died this year.
IN PAKISTAN
Fatima Surayya Bajia
‘Queen’ of Urdu literature Fatima Surayya Bajia, passed away on February 10 at the age of 85 due to long time ailment. Fatima Surayya was born in Indian city Hyderabad on September 1, 1930. Host and literary character Anwar Maqsood is her brother while Zubaida Apa and poet Zahra Nigar are her younger sisters.
Bajia was awarded the Pride of Performance award in 1997 by the government of Pakistan. Other than that, she has been awarded with various other national and international honours, out of which Japan’s higher civil award is also worth mentioning.
In 2012, she was also awarded President of Pakistan’s Hilal-e-Imtiaz distinction.
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Abdul Sattar Edhi
World-famous philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, at the age of 88, breathed his last on July 9.
Edhi was born on January 1, 1928 in Indian Gujarat and dedicated his life to philanthropy by establishing Pakistan’s biggest foundation by his name. In 2013, Huffington Post reported in 2013 that he might be the world’s greatest humanitarian. His contributions earned him the recognition of ‘Angel of Mercy’.
Edhi Foundation has rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, trained over 40,000 nurses and taken care of not less than 50,000 orphans until now.
Edhi was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2013 but had been unable to get a transplant due to frail health.
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Amjad Sabri
On June 22, renowned Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri fell prey to gun attack by unidentified miscreants in Liaquatabad area.
Amjad Sabri was born on December 23, 1976. He was the son of renowned qawwal Ghulam Fareed Sabri. He started to learn to sing qawwali at the age of 9.
Almost whatever the Sabri brothers sang became an instantaneous block buster, but some of their famous qawwalis were Bhar Do Jholi Meri, Tajdar-i-Haram and Mera Koi Nahin Hai Teray Siwa.
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Shahlyla Ahmadzai
An enthusiastic Pakistani footballer Shahlyla Ahmadzai Baloch passed away on October 13 in a deadly car crash in Karachi.
Called as the first female to score a hat-trick at the international level, she was born in 1996 and was hardly 20-year-old. Shahlyla Baloch had received the FIFA’s youngest players award when she was only 7 years old.
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She represented the country in South Asian Football Federation Women Football Championship 2014 in Islamabad.
In an interview, the player had also said that she was inspired by Maradona and Messi.
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Junaid Jamshed
Junaid Jamshed is regarded as one of the most significant individuals in the Pakistani music industry but on December 7, he lost his life in a fatal PIA flight PK-661 crash near Havelian.
Born in Karachi on September 3, 1964, Jamshed rose to fame in the 80s and was the lead singer of the band Vital Signs for a number of years until bidding farewell to the music industry all of a sudden and began to sing Hamds and Naats in 2004.
Jamshed renounced engineering and to supplement his income, he opened a clothing store "J.", selling Khaadis (a form of Kurta-Shalwar).
In 2007 Government of Pakistan awarded him Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
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Shamim Ara
On August 5, Pakistani film industry lost its stunning actress Shamim Ara after a prolonged illness. She had a brain hemorrhage in 2010 and was taken to London for treatment by her family and was in coma as of 2014.
Shamim Ara was born in Aligarh in 1929. Her acting career spans from the late 1950s till the early 1970s. She started her film career from Kanwari Bewah (1956) and went on to star in hit movies.
In early 1970s, she retired as the leading lady in the movies and started to produce and direct films. In 1968 she produced her first film Saiqa (1968) which was based on the novel of Razia Butt.
She is a four-time recipient of the prestigious Nigar award.
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INTERNATIONAL
Muhammad Ali
Boxing icon Muhammad Ali died on June 4 at the age of 74 after a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Known globally not only for his storied ring career but also for his civil rights activism, Ali had been hospitalized multiple times in recent years.
Ali was the most thrilling if not the best heavyweight ever, carrying into the ring a physically lyrical, unorthodox boxing style that fused speed, agility and power more seamlessly than that of any fighter before him.
Muhammad Ali was regarded as the greatest for fighting for the black community and went to jail for his beliefs and services he provided.
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David Bowie
British music legend David Bowie lost his life in a battle with cancer on January 10.
He was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, inner south London on January 8, 1947, before his family moved out to the leafy suburb of Bromley when he was six.
The death brings the curtain down on one of the most acclaimed artists of modern British music, with a career dating back to the hit "Space Oddity" in 1969, about an astronaut called Major Tom, who is abandoned in space.
It spanned styles ranging from glam rock, New Romantic, Krautrock and dance music to alternative rock, jungle, soul and hard rock, underpinned by an astonishing array of stage personas to the so-called Thin White Duke.
Prince
Pop icon Prince, whose pioneering brand of danceable funk made him one of music’s most influential figures died on April 21.
Prince became an international sensation in the 1980s, when he popularized the Minneapolis sound of danceable funk, incorporating rock elements. His 1984 album "Purple Rain" is often described as one of the greatest of all time.
The artist whose huge catalogue of hits includes "1999," "Cream" and "Kiss” lived on the outskirts of Minneapolis, where he was known for throwing parties and preserving his back recording in vaults at his Paisley Park studio.
Carrie Fisher
Fearless "Star Wars" character Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher died on December 27 following a massive heart attack. She was 60.
The American actress, best-selling author and screenwriter who suffered from numerous addictions she later turned into writing gold was a member of Hollywood royalty, both on screen and off.
Born in Los Angeles in October 1956, the daughter of actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher became an international star overnight with the release of "Star Wars" in 1977.
Leia was the tough rebel princess in a white dress with a strange hairdo and blaster guns, who was unafraid to stare down the villainous Darth Vader.
