Music Freedom Report no. 2: Pakistan • 3 March 2012
Bomb blast in Peshawar in September 2011, exiled Haroon Bacha, Nabila from Ningora in Swat, Naghma
Pakistan: Taliban losing their ‘war on music’
Pakistan’s internal war between unarmed music lovers and religious militants who use deadly weapons and bombs to stop all music activity has entered a new phase in 2012, reports Javed Aziz Khan. The religious music ban based on terror continues, but it is increasingly isolated to tribal areas in the north of the country. The rest of the country’s 170 million people have gained new confidence in their right to listen to the music of their own cultures as well as of the West.
By Javed Aziz Khan
At a time when religious militants in South Waziristan were busy torching tape recorders, computers and cellular phones for ‘spreading obscenity’ because they were being used for listening to music, an audience of over 600 people at the Nishtar Hall in the provincial capital Peshawar were clapping for every verse and poem of the legendary Pashto poet, Rahman Baba, sung by Fayaz Kheshgi during a play on the life of the Sufi poet to portray to the world the soft image of Pashtuns. These people who live in the north of Pakistan, close to the border of Afghanistan, are historically known as ‘ethnic Afghans’, and form well over two- thirds of the population in the area.
These contrasting incidents show Pakistan in a nutshell today. On one hand, the militants managed to destroy over 500 computers, cellular phones and other electronic gadgets in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan tribal agency for spreading music in the month of December 2011, and again, in another campaign in mid-January 2012, they destroyed even more.
On the other hand, exactly at the time when the militants led by Maulvi Nazir blocked main Wana Road in South Waziristan and torched music appliances – on 16 January 2012 – the first ever theatre play on the life of Rahman Baba in over 350 years was receiving applauses from the Sufi music lovers throughout the Pashtun belt.
Overwhelming response The play is directed by famous director and actor of Pakistan, Ajab Gul, and written by Abaseen Yousafzai to pay tribute to Rahman Baba and tell the new generation that their forefathers have always preached love and peace in their poems and ghazals (songs). The response to the play was overwhelming.
According to the director, he has been approached by the Afghan and European Union authorities to stage the play in Kabul and Brussels. “The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are in desperate need of positive entertainment and that is why the response to the first ever theatre play on the life of Rahman Baba is so overwhelming,” said Ajab Gul.
The fact is that Pashtuns love music and entertainment. Khattak dance, Attanr, and many more versions of dances as well as the Tappa form of songs are the examples of the Pashtuns’ love for music. The mystic melodies or the Sufi music are famous all over Pakistan where people sing and dance to Sufi music at holy shrines and certain religious gatherings. The Qawwali form of Sufi music is being listened to by a sect of Muslims as part of the worship, in which the poems of Allama Mohammad Iqbal, Maulana Rumi and other spiritual leaders and poets are sung.
But over the last decade, the people in most of the tribal areas in northern Pakistan and some part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been deprived of music with the imposition of a ban by the Taliban who believe playing and listening of music of any form is against the teachings of Islam.
Bomb attacks on music shops and threats to musicians are less frequent today, but incidents still continue all over the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its adjoining federally administered tribal areas, FATA.
Who are the Taliban? “The Taliban are militants who have modeled their movement after the Afghan Taliban to justify their activities for ‘establishment of Islamic Sharia’ in Pakistan and to pretend that they are defending, or promoting, Islam. Their ultimate end goal seems to be capturing power in Pakistan, and they are using violence as a tool for that,” explained Delawar Jan, a senior journalist covering the war on terror in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for The News International, the largest English daily of Pakistan, and who is a Humphrey Fellow.
In fact, the name ‘Taliban’ was first associated with those who are students of a school, especially seminaries, but with the passage of time and with the participation of these students in the armed fight against Russian and other foreign forces in Afghanistan, the name Taliban became synonymous to the fighters. Today, the Taliban are fighting against the government and foreign forces in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they are often also referred to as ‘the militants’.
2 In Pakistan, there are different factions of the militants but they are all united under the umbrella of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is led by Hakimullah Mahsud from the North Waziristan, a tribal area close to the border with Afghanistan. Most of the militants are based in tribal and semi-tribal areas of the country while some are hiding in Swat and other six districts of the Malakand division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. They carry out attacks all over Pakistan.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa comprises of 25 districts with an estimated population of about 21 million people, and also controls the six semi tribal areas called Frontier Regions or FRs. The federally administered tribal areas, FATA, comprises of seven tribal agencies administratively controlled by the federal government through a governor.
The Taliban in Afghanistan are being led by former ruler of Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Omar. Military operations are in full swing against militants all over Pakistan while in Afghanistan the NATO forces are fighting to eliminate their network.
Why this ‘war on music’? There are different versions about the status of music in Islam. Some religious scholars believe music is banned in Islam but that one is allowed to sing verses without drums.
The Taliban believe there is no room for listening or playing music in Islam and that is why they first warn people to shun any music-related activity and when they don’t obey, they stop them by force.
“Since a thumping majority of people don’t agree to the Taliban’s music ban, they use force to make them obey. But music lovers, not Taliban, are winning this war,” told Delawar Jan.. He referred to that the industry of music is flourishing all over Pakistan: “You can see the increasing number of music bands in Pashto and other languages, the rising number of new and educated people coming to the profession as well as the all time high number of music listeners all over Pakistan, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. If the Taliban were winning, the number of musicians, singers and listeners would have decreased by now due to fear and threats.”
A number of other religious scholars believe that there is enough room for music in Islam, and that is why the music genre Qawwali and other kind of Sufi music is considered part of religious rituals among some Pakistani sects in Islam.
“The Sufi music is in fact a relation between the man and the God,” said an artist, Faizan Khwaja.
The Coke Studio, Mystic Melodies, Heritage Revival and Arifana Kalam are among the popular music series at different tv-channels that have earned tens of thousands of audience and viewers all over Pakistan.
Music as a prime victim Even though the militants are carrying out their anti-music terror attacks all over Pakistan, inhabited by over 170 million people, their war against music has primarily been concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas. During the last decade, music was one of the prime victims of violence there. 3
Hundreds of music shops were bombed, singers and dancers were killed and many were threatened to quit the profession. Scores of people from across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and federally administered tribal areas had to switch over to other businesses, following an unending series of bomb attacks on music and movie centers, started right from early 2007 that continued till the end of 2011.
Shabana, a popular dancer in Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was hanged in public in a busy square in 2008 to send a message to the rest of those females and males associated with the business.
A report by Pakistan Press Foundation documented that as many as 13 men and one woman were killed by the militants, (this figure does not include musicians and singers killed by non- militants), five were kidnapped, and more than 121 were injured in different incidents of violence against music over the past decade. Some musical functions in rural and suburban areas were also attacked. Militants had hurled life threats and imposed bans on more than 13 musicians and musical bands.
Apart from Shabana of Swat who was killed by religious militants, there are many singers and dancers who have been killed by incidents other than militancy. An emerging singer, Ayman Udas, was allegedly killed by her brothers in April 2009 in Peshawar for causing bad name to their family for being a singer while another female dancer was killed and two were wounded when attacked by robbers on their way back home from a dance party. Another dancer, Rubi, was killed by her father in the same Peshawar town.
Pressure, threats and bans Also in Punjab and other areas of Pakistan, a number of steps have been taken against the freedom of expression for musicians and dancers. These attacks are not, however, those of bombs and guns, but of legislation.
The Punjab Assembly on 24 January 2012 passed a bill to impose a ban on musical concerts in the educational institutions. A female lawmaker from the Pakistan Muslim League Quid, Seemal Kanwal, moved the bill of imposition of ban on holding ‘objectionable concerts’ in the educational institutions. The Institute for Preservation of Art and Culture - along with a number of institutions - strongly condemned the ban, saying, “The use of term ‘objectionable’ musical concerts is too vague and has obviously been used deliberately to target any form of musical activity. This irresponsible action is against the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.”
The government of Punjab has already banned ‘vulgar dances’ in theatre plays and musical concerts. The Punjab Government also imposed a ban on Basant, a spring festival of music and kite flying, because it had caused the deaths of several people while running after the kites.
In 2008, religious fundamentalists in this part of Pakistan killed Naina, a popular dancer, and had threatened many other dancers and singers for being in the profession. In Sindh Province, the organizers of a Sufi festival in Shahdad Kot town had to cut down the 10-day festival to three days in April 2009 after workers of a religious party, Jamiat Ulema-e- Islam Fazl, warned against dances and music. The party had also forced Sindh TV, a local TV 4 channel, to stop a musical show in Nawabshah after obtaining a stay order from the local court in 2009.
In exile or underground In Swat and other troubled parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, dozens of music-related families had to shift to safer places after feeling to be insecure. Dancers, singers and musicians who were sent threatening letters had to leave Swat for relatively peaceful Peshawar city and other parts of the country.
Since restrictions imposed by the government of six-party religious alliance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, then called North West Frontier Province, on music industry in 2003, the Dabgari Bazaar in Peshawar was already deserted.
The narrow streets of the bazaar were once known for having houses and studios of female and ‘shemale’ dancers with small dancing halls and studios but today they are nowhere.
Singers like Haroon Bacha, Gulzar Alam, Nazia Iqbal, Wisal Khayal, Janas Khan, Musharraf Bangash and innumerable female dancers had either to leave the country or suspend their music activities for months to avoid the wrath by the Taliban, who had even banned playing music in shops, offices and vehicles and used to torture drivers if found having a music compact disk or cassette tape in the vehicle.
“In my humble opinion, this damage to Pashto culture and music has been brought by a well thought out plan by some ‘hidden forces’ who by labeling music as sinful, want to distance Pashtuns of their rich musical and cultural heritage, and instead inculcate in them a hatred for almost all kinds of fine arts and for the people associated with the field of entertainment and show biz,” wrote Haroon Bacha in an email from Washington DC where he has sought asylum.
Between 500 and 800 CD shops bombed According to a spokesman for the Peshawar capital city police, Nisar Ahmad, police has no exact figures as to how many shops were bombed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA between 2006 and 2011.
However, a report compiled by Pakistan Press Foundation on threats and violence against musicians and attacks on music shops in Pakistan from 2000 to 2011 disclosed that 508 CD and music shops were destroyed or damaged in at least 97 bomb attacks during the period, most of which occurred since 2007. According to the report, 2007 was most dangerous and horrifying year for music shop owners in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. Some sources mention that as many as 800 music shops were bombed in this period.
Police investigation unveiled that during the last four years or so, a number of rings of terrorists were operating in the area against music. A police official Nisar Ahmad from Peshawar recalled one such gang involved in bombing CD and music shops was detected when three of its members were killed while handling bombs in a house in Tauheed Abad on Phandu Road in Peshawar in January 2008, soon after they blew up two shops in the nearby.
5 He disclosed that another gang was busted when a teenager career was arrested from a bus coming from Bara sub division of Khyber Agency to Peshawar in 2007. The 15-year-old boy confessed to have been involved in at least 12 bombing of CD shops as militants believed the production and business of music is against the Islamic Sharia law.
Shopkeepers’ found other areas “I was running a music shop to sell cassettes and CDs to the local music lovers. However, I had to change my business in 2007 when two CD shops in the vicinity were bombed and others were want to face the same fate if they continued,” said Gul Nawaz, a shopkeeper now selling flour, in his small shop on Wazir Bagh Road in Kakshal town of Peshawar.
Many others like Nawaz have had to switch over to another profession.
“I owned a music CDs shop in Darra Adamkhel (a tribal area 40 kilometres south of Peshawar) where my shop was bombed along with a dozen other shops in late 2007. I had no option but to look for some other business as my family stressed to quit selling music,” said Mubarak Ali, a vendor selling fresh fruit juice.
Terror on music markets and cinemas Besides targeting small music markets and individual shops, the main music market in Nishtarabad Peshawar, having around 200 shops, was bombed twice during the last four years. In October 2007, a blast in the main CD market had killed one person and wounded 28 others while 6 people were killed and over 30 were injured when terror revisited the market in September 2011.
Not only the CD markets but cinemas and movie theatres also suffered bomb attacks by the militants associated with TTP. At least 12 people were killed and several injured in a car bomb blast at the entrance of Tasveer Mahal Cinema in Kabuli Peshawar on 22 May 2009. A mini cinema was bombed in Karachi, the trade hub of Pakistan, in November 2011 that wounded 10 people. The number of cinema visitors has recorded a sharp decrease in Pakistan during the last few years.
New faces on the screen Some observers believe that the attacks and threats, however, to some extent proved a blessing in disguise for the Pashto music as many new, educated and young faces appeared on the Pashto music screen to fill the vacuum of seasoned singers, musicians and dancers.
“Singers like Ghazala Javed and Karan Khan emerged at the local music scene when they had to migrate to Peshawar from the troubled Swat Valley due to militancy. The two were followed by Musarrat Mohmand, her younger sister Urooj Mohmand,” said Khurram Zeeshan Advocate, a poet and music critic in Pakistan.
He added that the pop music was introduced into the Pashto language during this troubled time, starting from 2005, when Zik Afridi, Humayun, Janas Khan, Fiza Fayaz and other educated boys sung with fast tunes.
The opening of small, home-based audio studios in Peshawar which use computers have made recording of music and singing easier and cheaper for amateur singers. This is another reason why a relatively high number of young singers have emerged. 6
A young Indian lover of Pakistani music, Sharon Osser, has sung several Pashto songs, solo and with the Pakistani and Afghan singers. “I pray for the peace in Pakistan and a better future of the music in the country. Since attacks and threats to the musicians and singers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, many had to move abroad, leaving a vacuum,” said the young female singer, who sings in Pashto while she is settled in Europe.
Music back in business “The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is to produce more theatre plays on the life of Rahman Baba and other legends of Pashtun region, like Khushal Khan, Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Bacha Khan, Pir Rokhan and others in the coming days to tell the world that we are not the terrorists,” said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the provincial information minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was behind the production of the first theatre play on Rahman Baba at Nishtar Hall on 16-18 January 2012. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities also have organised many folk music shows, pop music concerts and have honoured the legends of Pashto singing like Khayal Mohammad with life time achievement awards and financial support.
Since the security situation has improved to a great extent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and elsewhere in Pakistan for the last few months, people are back to their music.
Despite a recent bombing, people have started coming to the main CD and music market in Nishtarabad Peshawar.
“The customers are increasing with each passing day and that is why the owners of dozens of shops as well as studios in the market are determined not only to continue their business but also to further flourish the industry,” said Safeer Khan, owner of a shop in Nishtarabad.
“Despite of the fearful situation in the province, the industry has ironically shown signs of revival. This development is attributed to the opening of the Nishtar Hall by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the commitment it has shown to counter terrorism through promoting music and culture,” said singer Haroon Bacha.
“Singers now focus more on singing peace songs, as opposed to the old trend of singing traditional romantic poetry. This change in trend has also helped elevate Pashto music as well as the morale of its singers and listeners,” opined Haroon Bacha.
Despite threats, ban and attacks, music has turned into a full-fledge industry in Pakistan over the last few years. Aag - the leading musical tv-channel of the country - presents songs round the clock with high viewer rates. Other tv-channels air music shows on daily basis to get their viewers properly entertained. Singing is a profitable business in the country and apart from the traditional families of musicians, youth from the elite class has entered into the field to keep up singing and dancing to enthrall the Pakistani nation.
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7 About the author Javed Aziz Khan is a former two time president of the Khyber Union of Journalists, Newsmen of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and he covers the ‘war on terror’ for Pakistan’s top English daily, The News. He can be contacted at e-mail : [email protected]
About the Music Freedom Reports This Music Freedom Report is part of a series of articles published on the occasion of the annual Music Freedom Day 3 March 2012. More information about the reports and about Music Freedom Day can be found on: musicfreedomday.org
More information For more information about music and censorship in Pakistan, see: freemuse.org/sw1458.asp
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