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.
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