Three years have passed since Mehdi Hassan's death but despite several promises no steps have been taken to build a mausoleum of 'Shenshah-e-Ghazal' in Karachi while his belongings, stolen from Lahore, are still untraceable.
Hassan breathed his last on 13 June, 2012 at Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi after suffering from lung, chest and urinary tract diseases for 12 years. His family has expressed anguish that despite tall claims, no progress has been made so far to build his mausoleum.
His prized belongings, including awards, medals, shields, harmonium, handwritten documents and clothes, were stolen from a rented house in Lahore three months back but no action has been taken so far, they claimed.
"It has been three years since he (Mehdi Hassan) passed away but we are still waiting for his mausoleum. Centre, state government and governor had also made promises but they remained only promises," Arif Hassan, son of Mehdi Hassan, told PTI from Karachi.
"One-and-a-half years back, only the fencing work was done and that too after our tireless efforts. Kids play cricket on the land allotted for building Abba's mausoleum . We are deeply hurt that nobody cares," he rued.
He said that he and his wife have knocked every possible door to get back the stolen belongings of his father but no action has been taken on that front as well.
His wife Umaima Arif had also moved Lahore High Court (LHC) in this regard.
"We had brought all the awards and harmonium of the Hassan Saab from Karachi to Lahore for getting them placed at a museum and had rented a house at Lytton Road for keeping the entire luggage.
"However, all the awards and harmonium were stolen about three months back," said Arif.
He also said that that an FIR was registered about the robbery in Lytton Road Police station but police had not arrested the accused as yet.
"The luggage included many awards that my father had received from various countries like the highest Nepalese award 'Gorkha Dakshin Bahu'. Apart from that many trophies, shields, his death certificate, harmonium, cloths and hand written documents have been stolen," he said.
"We don't know what to do as his memorabilia is very precious not only for us but for all his fans and music lovers. I hope that better sense prevails and efforts are made to find this heritage," he said.
