Musicians in trouble in Pakistan's province

Sat Feb 1 05:20:18 PST 2003

THE TIMES OF INDIA

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2003

Musicians in trouble in Pakistan's province

REUTERS

PESHAWAR: Musicians in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province bordering
Afghanistan complained on Wednesday they were being harassed by police at
the behest of hardline Islamic parties who run the province.

Several artists in Peshawar, provincial capital of the NWFP, said they had
been arrested and fined unfairly, and feared that the treatment was part of
a move to crack down on music and other arts by a six-party alliance of
religious parties.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance swept to power in the province in
October elections and includes pro-Taliban Islamic groups who support a
strict conservative interpretation of Islam.

Well-known local Pashto-language singer Gulzar Alam told Reuters he was
arrested by police last week while performing during a private wedding
party.

Alam was accused by police of drinking alcohol and rowdy behaviour. He was
later released and complained he had been humiliated.

Tariq Khan, programme officer at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
(HRCP), told Reuters that the commission was planning to file a court case
in support of musicians and their freedom of expression.

"Where is the law against music in Pakistan?" Khan said.

Musician Mubin Khan said he was picked up by police in Peshawar last week
along with half a dozen colleagues and fined 500 rupees by a local court on
charges of "loitering".

"They (police) were angry that we kept our windows open (while playing
music)," Khan told Reuters.

He said late last month police had instructed all music shops to keep their
shutters down so that musical instruments could not be seen from the street.

Publicly, senior police officials deny there was a crackdown on musicians in
Peshawar, but in private some admit they have been asked to keep tabs on
them.

Provincial minister for culture Raja Faisal Zaman also denied there was a
move against musicians, but said the government wanted them to work under
Islamic "parameters" and avoid any form of vulgarity.

"We don't want to snatch their jobs," he told Reuters.

Most of the complaints were being made in Peshawar city's century-old
Dabgari Bazaar, where dozens of musicians have shops.

Ironically, many Peshawar musicians are Afghans who fled the country because
the Taliban prevented them from working there.

The MMA has already banned the playing of music on public transport since
coming to power in the NWFP.

The harassment complaints followed the burning of hundreds of pornographic
videos and feature films by shop owners as part of an MMA-led anti-obscenity
drive.

Pornography is banned in Pakistan, though video shops frequently rent or
sell such movies under the counter.