ISLAMABAD  -  The birth anni­versary of the singer, actor, producer, direc­tor, scriptwrit­er, columnist and protagonist of the devel­opment of the Punjabi language and literature In­ayat Hussain Bhatti was observed on Friday. Born on January 12, 1928, in Gujrat Bhatti moved to Lahore to pursue further studies. After some time he satrted sing­ing for Radio Pakistan and subse­quently, entered the film indus­try as a playback singer in 1949 through the Punjabi hit ‘Pheray’. He was a multi-talented distin­guished singer, actor, director author, social leader and col­umnist. He has been interested in Sufi poetry since he was a child. Inayat sang for nearly 500 films, in both Urdu and Punjabi. His impressive discography in­cludes 2,500 songs. In 1997, he suffered an attack of paralysis, which impaired his speech and kept him bedridden for most of the time thereafter. He died on May 31, 1999.