Delhi-based tabla player,Nawab Khan was in his room packing when the blast ripped off the wall of his hotel. Khan,52,was in Kabul as part of the three-member cultural troupe sent by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). Khan,an A-Grade artiste at All India Radio was the son of famous sarangi player Banne Khan and brother of Alauddin Khan one of the very few Dilruba Israj players in India. Alauddin Khan was also a part of the delegation that left Delhi 10 days ago for the Afghanistan tour. I got a call at 2 pm telling me about my uncle. I rushed to the ICCR office immediately. Three members of my family had gone to Afghanistan including my father and my brother. The terror strikes are sparing nobody. The only earning member of this family is dead, said Khans nephew and Alauddin Khans son Amjad Chaudhary to The Indian Express. Khan is survived by his wife and six children of which four are still in school. A popular artiste in Delhi ,Khan had played with popular artistes like Ghulam Ali,Rashid Khan,Begum Praveen Sultana and Salamat Ali Khan. Sarangi player Sultan Khan,a close associate of the family said: Incidents like these are sad because an artiste has nothing to do with terrorism. And Nawab was like my son and an accomplished tabla player of the Delhi Gharana. His death is definitely sad news for the Delhi Gharana and the music fraternity in general. The government will condemn the terror attacks but will never give us the right information. Somebody tells us that the body will be airlifted today while some tell us that it wont reach before tomorrow evening, said Chaudhary. Rajya Sabha MP and ICCR President Dr Karan Singh confirmed that a special flight will bring the bodies to India by Saturday afternoon.
