Singer Rabbi denied visa by Pakistan

Singer Rabbi denied visa by Pakistan

By ASIT JOLLY

Chandigarh

The newest pride of Punjab and the Punjabi diaspora, the singer Rabbi Shergill, says he is sorely "disappointed" with the authorities in Pakistan. In Chandigarh to receive an "excellence" award for his work in the field of music and spreading environmental consciousness, Shergill said he was still awaiting word on his visa application which he had submitted to the Pakistan high commission in Delhi nearly three months ago.

The singer said he had sought a visa to travel to Karachi, where he wanted to shoot the video version of Karachi Valie a number on his new Punjabi-English album, Avengi Ja Nahin. "The song is about a young girl of Karachi and I was keen to use the city as a backdrop for the filming," Shergill said. He said he has no notion on why the Pakistan Government had decided against granting him a visa.

"I simply haven€™t heard from them," he said adding that the file seemed to have become lost somewhere between Delhi and Islamabad. But disappointed as he is, Rabbi Shergill had ample cause to smile here in Chandigarh, where the Washington-based Sikh Council on Religion & Education or SCORE included him in their list of "greats" alongside Inderjit Kaur of Amritsar€™s Pingalwara institution and the painter Arpana Kaur.