Popular Pakistani singer Ghazala Javed killed

[MrB]

From BBC News. The article is short enough that I've quoted the whole thing - hope I'm not breaking forum rules too badly.

Popular Pakistani singer Ghazala Javed killed

Popular Pakistani singer Ghazala Javed has been shot dead in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Ms Javed and her father were killed when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on them late on Monday, police say.

Police say the murders may be linked to a family dispute.

Ms Javed, who sang in her native Pashto, was from Pakistan's Swat valley, which she fled three years ago during a military offensive against Taliban militants in the region.

Singers and dancers were particularly targeted by insurgents when they overran the area in 2007.

Ms Javed at one point was also forced to stop singing because of threats.

The singer, who was in her twenties, later married a businessman but they are thought to have divorced.

Correspondents say her music fused eastern and western traditions.

Tributes from fans across Afghanistan and Pakistan have been pouring into social media sites.

[encore]

Here's some more news on this young, pretty and talented Pashto singer.  Her husband is a prime suspect in the killing and he has gone missing.  She was only 29:

She and her father were gunned down on Monday (June 18th) as they left a beauty parlour in Peshawar, Pakistan. Her sister, Farhat, escaped harm after two armed men on motorcycles opened fire on the family.

According to media reports from Pakistan, police are focusing their investigation on Ghazala's estranged husband, Jehangir Khan, and his two friends, Nasir and Salam Khan. All three have gone missing.

"Her husband stopped her from singing, which saddened her a great deal," media reports quoted Farhat as saying. "She used to say that music was her passion and that she couldn't survive without it."

But music is also considered un-Islamic by the Taliban, which has a huge influence in Ghazala's native Swat Valley. In 2009, Ayman Udas, another popular female singer, was killed. Although that murder still remains unsolved, there is a wide consensus that "conservative groups" were behind it.

"It's too early to say whether Ghazala's murder was the work of the Taliban," Pakistani music critic Shehla Parveen told Khabar South Asia from Karachi. "She was going through a messy divorce and it's common in the northwest region for men to settle domestic scores through murder."

"But one thing is certain. It will be a long time before another female singer emerges to fill the void left by Ghazala Javed and Ayman Udas. People will be terrified of exposing their daughters to the wrath of fundamentalists who have a standing ban on music in general and on female performers in particular."

In an email to Khabar, London-based Pashto expert Nawab Khan praised the singer's bravery.

"Ghazala defied the writ of the Taliban and her popularity spread from the United Arab Emirates to India. She symbolised courage because there were many threats on her earlier," he said.

Ghazala's regional appeal was recognised in 2009, when she received an award from The Times of India group. Although she sang in Pashto, a language not understood beyond Pakistan's borders, her music and persona transcended the divide.

At home, meanwhile, she was an icon for young people disgusted with fundamentalism.

"She inspired a large number of other young singers, particularly females in the northwestern province where fundamentalists were constantly harassing them," Parveen, the music critic, said.

In 2007, when the Taliban began to spread its influence in the Swat Valley, climaxing in a military-style takeover in 2009, Ghazala fled to nearby Peshawar, a town on Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan.

"She did not bother about her persecutors," Parveen told Khabar. She recorded her music in Dubai and her albums were great hits."

Responding to news of Ghazala's death, the head of a performers' association in Pakistan vowed that musicians and entertainers in the country would not be deterred by such incidents, nor by the pressure brought by extremists.

"We have been facing the wrath of the Taliban for a long time," said Javid Babir, president of the Artists Welfare Association Zoom. "But we are determined to entertain people".

Full article here:

http://khabarsouthasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2012/06/22/feature-01

[James]

hope I'm not breaking forum rules too badly.

Not at all. Just to clarify, the rule on not posting entire articles applies specifically to the Film Fare subforum out of concern that it was turning into more of an archive than an area where discussion of film is taking place. Your posting this piece would actually prompt discussion, which is what we're hoping to achieve here.

Regarding the thread subject, I must say I'm sadly rather unaware of this singer, though obviously sad to hear she's been murdered. I guess my ignorance is somewhat natural insofar as I don't speak Pashto and the language and its music and movies don't seem to be exported outside their territory. Are there any songs from her repertoire that are particularly well-renowned that I should be aware of? I'd be curious to hear what Pashto sounds like, I can't help but wonder how close it sounds to Hindi or other Indian languages.

[Karobaar2000]

pashtuns/pathans are among the most beautiful people in this world, if only they had brains and non violence to go with it

[Manturo]

pashtuns/pathans are among the most beautiful people in this world, if only they had brains and non violence to go with it

I think it's just the Talibans. I wouldn't paint all Pashtuns/Pathans with the same brush stroke. See Malala Yousafzai, Pashtun too.

[Karobaar2000]

^ sorry, I meant mostly meant their men, their women are really nice and even open minded despite all restrictions put on them by men. I deal with them daily here in Karachi

[Karobaar2000]

Not at all. Just to clarify, the rule on not posting entire articles applies specifically to the Film Fare subforum out of concern that it was turning into more of an archive than an area where discussion of film is taking place. Your posting this piece would actually prompt discussion, which is what we're hoping to achieve here.

Regarding the thread subject, I must say I'm sadly rather unaware of this singer, though obviously sad to hear she's been murdered. I guess my ignorance is somewhat natural insofar as I don't speak Pashto and the language and its music and movies don't seem to be exported outside their territory. Are there any songs from her repertoire that are particularly well-renowned that I should be aware of? I'd be curious to hear what Pashto sounds like, I can't help but wonder how close it sounds to Hindi or other Indian languages.

Pashto is a eastern iranian language, it sounds very different from most indian languages.

The thing though is, Sanskrit in ancient times had some connections with Pashto, Sanskrit language was founded in what is Gilgit in northern pakistan. I think pashto is a language which is related to Avestan, an ancient Iranian language which was pretty close to Sanskrit