Jagjit Kaur, veteran singer and wife of composer Khayyam, dies at 93
Mumbai, Aug 15: Jagjit Kaur, veteran singer and wife of late music composer Khayyam, passed away on Sunday following age-related illness. She was 93.
Kaur sang several songs, including the ones composed by Khayyam like "Dekh lo aaj humko" from "Bazaar", the 1982 film featuring Supriya Pathak Kapur and Farooq Shaikh; "Pehle to aankh milana" from 1961's "Shola Aur Shabnam", starring Dharmendra; and "Tum apna ranj o-gham apni pareshani mujhe de do" from the 1964 Waheeda Rehman-starrer "Shagoon".
According to Pritam Sharma, spokesperson of the Khayyam Jagjit Kaur KPG Charitable Trust, the singer breathed her last around 6 am at her residence in Juhu.
"The last rites will be performed with limited attendance today at Pawan Hans Crematorium, Vile Parle, here," Sharma said.
Kaur started her career in the early '50s, singing songs in films like "Posti" (Punjabi language) and "Dil-e-Nadan", starring Talat Mehmood and Shyama. She got married to Khayyam in 1954.
She also sang a song in the Khayyam-composed memorable soundtrack, "Umrao Jaan" in 1981.
In 2016, Kaur, along with her husband-composer, started the Khayyam Jagjit Kaur KPG Charitable Trust to support budding artists and technicians in India.
Khayyam passed away in 2019 aged 92.
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
