Star with links to King launches wild attack

A Pakistani folk singer who is an ambassador of an anti-violence charity founded by King Charles, has been filmed in a brutal attack on a bandmate.

A music star who is an ambassador of an anti-violence charity founded by King Charles has been filmed hitting a bandmate and dragging him by his hair in brutal attack.

Pakistani folk singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is an ambassador for the British Asian Trust, which helps domestic violence victims and runs mental health initiatives across India and Pakistan and was founded by King Charles in 2007.

Mr Khan and King Charles at a British Asian Trust event in 2017. Picture: RFAK World.

In a video, sent to the UK’s Mail on Sunday, Mr Khan, 49, is seen attacking a backing singer on a US tour last year, hitting him with a slipper and dragging him by his hair, while others watch on.

The violent attack followed Mr Khan asking the other man: “Where is that bottle of mine? I am going to hit you.”

He then slaps the man across the face before repeating: “Have you seen my bottle?”

He is then seen hitting the man with a slipper, while continuing to ask: “Where is my bottle?”

His victim replies: “I did not have it, sir. Which bottle?”

Mr Khan is then seen grabbing the man by his hair, dragging him to the floor and continuing to hit him, before being pulled away by others.

According to the Mail on Sunday, a source familiar with the incident said the argument may have been over a bottle of liquor.

But Mr Khan has denied this and said it was a bottle of spiritual water given to him by a holy man.

Mr Khan is seen pulling the man’s hair.

Others watched on without intervening.

Mr Khan has reportedly admitted to the assault, with the Mail on Sunday quoting him as saying: “He was my student and I hit him. He lost my special bottle of water, he was responsible for it, he accepted it.”

“And he has no objection to me beating him. No one has an objection if I punished my student because he lost my spiritual bottle of water. He has even asked me for forgiveness.”

Mr Khan is considered the greatest living singer of a genre of music famous in Pakistan called Qawwali.

Mr Khan has performed sold-out arena shows around the world, including in Australia where he bought his Me, Myself and I world tour to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne in 2019.

He has about eight million followers on social media and made his Hollywood acting debut in 2022, with an appearance in What’s Love Got To Do With It? starring Lily James.

The film was directed by Jemima Khan, ex-wife of former Pakistan premier Imran Khan.

Mr Khan contributed to the soundtrack of 1995 film Dead Man Walking and vocals were used in Mel Gibson’s 2007 movie Apocalypto.

He is considered the greatest living singer of a genre of music famous in Pakistan called Qawwali, which has its origins in the poetry and music of Islamic mystics, known as Sufis.

The British Asian Trust said it will look into the issue “urgently” adding that it takes “all accusations of abuse seriously”.