Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's daughter speaks out against copyright infringement of his songs

The daughter of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan says she will take legal action against those who are involved in infringement of copyrights of the iconic singer’s songs.

“I am the only heir of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the copyrights of my father’s songs are only with me. How can people take financial benefits by singing my father’s songs,” deplores Nida Nusrat.

Speaking at a news conference at the Lahore Press Club on Friday, she regretted that people had made fake pages using the name of her father Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on social media websites such as Facebook. “Even Wikipedia did not respond to my emails and now I plan to take action against it as well,” she said.

“I shall officially launch a collection of songs my father had sung. When my father died I was very young and moved along with mother to Canada. Those were difficult times and we faced a lot of hardships and people took advantage of that and started infringing upon copyrights of my father’s songs,” she said.

She said a company by the name of Khokar Productions was involved in infringement of copyrights and there were some other people too in India and Pakistan.

She also dispelled the impression that she was married to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. “There is no truth in it. Coincidentally, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s wife is my namesake.”

Asked about any differences she is rumoured to have with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, she vehemently denied it. “Rahat had taken forward legacy of my father and there is no question of differences with him; he is just like a brother to me,” said Ms Nusrat.

Originally published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2018