Despite Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s reassuring tweets, the teenage members of the Valley’s first all-women rock band have gone into hiding immediately after receiving a threat of ‘social boycott’ from the Dukhataarn-e-Millat, a radical women’s outfit
Despite Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s reassuring tweets, the teenage members of the Valley’s first all-women rock band have gone into hiding immediately after receiving a threat of ‘social boycott’ from the Dukhataarn-e-Millat, a radical women’s outfit.
Coming as it did after the fatwa from Kashmir’s head mufti, this development has halted all support for the band from civil society and cultural circles.
Left to fend for themselves, the families of Noma Nazir, Farah Deeba and Aneeka Khalid in the vulnerable neighbourhoods of Chhanpora, Bemina and Rajbagh have forced the teenagers to snap their contact with all, especially the media. “We have seized their cellphones and laptops,” two of their relatives revealed to The Hindu. “Their band has been shut.”
“Nobody is safe here. The Chief Minister’s tweets and the police can’t protect us. We don’t want to get caught in politics,” one of them said.
Dukhataarn-e-Millat has in fact avoided issuing a direct threat to the girls. It has rather innocuously communicated that their continued performance would force the outfit to call for a social boycott of their families. “We appeal to the parents of the band members to ask their children to refrain from singing as it is against Islamic principles. If they don’t follow our advice, we will be forced to announce a social boycott against them,” it said in a statement on Sunday.
The Dukhataarn-e-Millat does not have any history of using firearms. Founded in 1982 by Syeda Asiya Andrabi, the outfit claims to orchestrate ‘peaceful campaigns’ against anything it perceives to be contrary to the tenets, teachings and traditions of Islam. It played a key role in a campaign to close down cinema, video libraries and wine-shops, which culminated in the eruption of an armed insurgency in January 1990. Since then, it has been among the outlawed radical groups in the Valley. In 1992-93, it grabbed the headlines, enforcing the Islamic dress code allegedly by sprinkling acid on young girls wearing jeans and refusing to clad the ‘Abbaya’. Ms. Andrabi has repeatedly denied having used acid. The spray, she insisted, was “a harmless ink.”
Nonetheless, the Dukhataarn-e-Millat carries the image of a dreaded outfit for many — particularly those associated with the media, art and culture — in Srinagar. Ms. Andrabi is the wife of the jailed founder of the Jamiatul Mujahideen, Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, who now heads a different political outfit called the Muslim League.
More than fighting Indian troops and the police, the Jamiatul Mujahideen is known for its anti-media strikes, including banning publications and kidnapping theatre and television talents. Police records show that the group was responsible for the assassination of the former Joint Director of Information, Syed Ghulam Nabi, human rights activist Hridhay Nath Wanchoo and a couple of television artists.
The police consider the Dukhtaraan threat more seriously than the Mufti’s fatwa. “Till date, there’s no FIR but we are working on certain inputs,” Srinagar SSP Ashiq Bukhari said.
Another senior police official pointed out that many people, from Mufti Azam Basheer-ud-din to heads of the two Hurriyats Mirwaiz Umar and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, were all dismissing the December 2012 concert as ‘immoral and un-Islamic.”
Chief Minister vocal, government mute
With the exception of the reactions from Mr. Abdullah and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, hardly anyone of consequence has supported Pragaash.
Three fresh Facebook pages have come up with nearly 1,000 supportive posts in the past four days but most of the contributors are either morphed or believed to be those from outside the Valley. ‘Filmmakers’ and music lovers, who have expressed solidarity with the group, are familiar to a few in the media and cultural circles. Even officials of the Department of Information and the Cultural Academy have chosen to be mute spectators.
No association of the film, theatre, music, culture, art or media circles has come up with a statement of solidarity. Aziz Hajini, the Sahitya Akademi’s convener (Kashmiri), and president Adabi Markaz Kamraz maintained that they had no knowledge of the developments.
A Kashmir University professor, who runs a representative civil society group of intellectuals, traders and rights activists, declined to comment. “Now that the politicians and the clerics are in, it’s really difficult to make a comment,” she said. Woman rights activists Quratul Ain, Ezabir Ali and Hawa Bashir are the three-odd individuals who unequivocally condemned the hate campaign.
“Why these double standards? Don’t millions of the Kashmiris enjoy the songs of Raj Begam, Zoon Begam, Shameem Dev and Jameela Khan for the last many decades? Why don’t these groups object to the extremely objectionable songs and dances running in our drawing rooms through the local cable TV channels,” asked Ms. Bashir, who taught at the Department of Music at Government Women’s College for more than 30 years. “By their argument, there’s has to be a blanket ban on music in Kashmir.”
Pragaash’s promoter and organiser Adnan Matoo, who claimed to have launched the State’s first rock band, Bloodrockz, in 2005, refused to admit that that there was anything objectionable or un-Islamic in the performance. According to him, it was all a Sufi musical with a number of Bhule Shah hits — and a remix: mein hoon mushkil mein nazar tou kar le, faza ke pal mein zara gul kar de.
This injustice has to be fought from withtin the community. Attack the families and thus force the girls to abandon "themselves" their passion and then be proud that you showed them the "right way".If anyone and everyone can issue Fatwas, then it's upon the muslim comminuty now to come forward and abandon these fatwas. Hope good sense prevails.
Not to sing is Un-Indian.
Talk engages the mouth and sometimes the brain. But music reaches to the heart. It is said that God can be felt in one's heart!
Well, this is not surprising if the state chief minister will reassure its people via tweets rather than believing in doing some action.
Oppression is what religion appears to be best at. The problem is it only works for a short time - eventually people get sick of being oppressed and they stop believing. Religion then becomes irrelevant. The more religious leaders seek to oppress ideas, creativity, science, education and arts, the more irrelevant that religion becomes. The universe is awe-inspiring and humans can't help but want to know more about it, to ask questions and to seek answers. When religion can't answer (and lets face it, most religions are a little out of date when it comes to cosmological and scientific questions) people will look outside of religion. Stopping some young girls from singing will not stop them wanting to express themselves or thwart the desire to question or reduce the irrelevance of religion. It will merely frustrate them and make them question the value of a religion that stops little girls from singing.
If this is the state of affairs in J&K, we might as well admit they
are not part of India. This sort of affair whereby some "grand" mufti
can issue decrees which are tantamount to govt ordinances emanating
from the official govt institutions is not condoned in India. In India
we firmly enforce the rule of law. We cannot have parallel
administration systems in any part of India.
Secondly the esteemed author spends (wastes?) a great deal of space in
explaining the work of the Dukhataarn-e-Millat (Daughters of the
Nation) and stressing that they have so far not resorted to armed
action. But he glibly plays around the fact that they want Shariah Law
in the Valley and secession from India. How about replacing some of
that kid glove treatment of a soft-terror outfit and elaborating on
the aspirations of three average teenage girls which have been ripped
asunder by a "grand" mufti, online radicals and a non-lethal terror
outfit running a parallel administration in the Heaven on the Earth
"Najma Heptullah said, Saying anything in the name of religion does
not do any favour to the religion...If you don’t like songs, don’t
listen to them."
Same is true for the fatwa, if you don't like the fatwa don't abide by
it, it doesn't have the force of law. The girls or probably their
parents chose to abide by the fatwa because the mufti commands
credibility with the society and they are not far removed enough from
the society to disregard him.
singing, a quintessential component of entertainment is one of the
oldest,most cherished and relaxing form of amusement. the globe has
experienced innumerable Muslim singers coming from both the genders.
the statement needs to be analysed diligently and classified not only under the
'religious' category but also 'sexist' genre of remarks. it is high
time the religious community starts noticing the masquerade that the
religious preachers wear to ensure the proper implementation of the
unequal patriarchal norms so that 50 % population stays out of the
socio-cultural , political and economic spheres.
Just to put things in perspective: Zeb and Haniya (if anyone watched the
Dewarists you would know them) are a two-girl MTV Music Award winning
pop band from Khyber Pakhtunwa, Pakistan, the province that even saw a
Taliban Uprsising in the Swat. Strangely, they have not had any such
'fatwas' issued against them coming from an area infamous for its
conservativeness and fundamentalism. That just gives us a glimpse of the
status of freedom of expression in India today.
Qawwali, Ghazals, poetry recitals such as those of Kahlil Gibran's and Sufi singing have all been part and parcel of Islam since centuries...similarly Mohammad Rafi sang, Parveena Sultan sang, A.R.Rahman composes music that is recognised all over the world...if all these are not considered un-Islamic, why only the singing of girls? What exactly is being communicated - that women's freedom is not part of Islam?
Why are these people again and again getting the final call and why is nobody raising a voice against them?
Now why is this applicable only to the all-girl band? Have all the "all-
boy" bands also stopped playing? Did someone give Mohammed Rafi and
Talat Mahmood a fatwa? What kind of religion is this "grand" mufti
talking about? Where are the sufis mytics where they any further to god
because they sang?
Kashmir's all girl band is an example for all the girls of the whole nation to rise above the male dominated society and express their skills with pride and passion. Fatwa against them is against the very God who created this beautiful earth
It is but a point to ponder.. Do you really need to "report"
everything under the sun?. Whatever the intention might be, possibly
without over the top publicity maybe the girls would have been able to
still play music and lead a normal teenage life. Not only has the
publicity disclosed the identity of the girls, despite being aware of
the sensitivity of the region, where they come from.. it has been
politicized and been a bone of contention for so called religious
sentiments. Was it really unforeseen? In the effort to "liberate"
women, arent you putting innocent lives at stake by over exposure?
True it was appreciating the only girl band, but considering many
factors it could have been handled in a better way. This is where
"responsible journalism" needs to be put in place. Need to assess the
risks involved and not just gain TRPs.
Is there any wrong if the girls by themselves abandoned, and will you
force them again to go ahead with singing, even though the Grand Mufti
given the correct advice to them and they have taken advice for their
betterment of the hereafter...
Where are my Muslim brothers who came out in full force for the "Viswaroopam" ban? Forcing all kinds of whim and fancy in the name of Islam has become the order of the day. Can the same overnight Muslim bodies come out in support of the youngsters? I would imagine not, for these vigilantes would hide in their homes. By this fatwa the great singer Mohammad Rafi, all great sufi singers, all the ustads of the yesteryears and the modern day genius AR Rahman are all unislamic? What kind of joke is this? Is there no constitutional protection for these kids? The peaceful and broad thinking version of islam is being trampled by these zealots and no one has a say?
Mohammed Rafi & A.R. Rehman.
Was an fatwa issued against these 2 individuals?
There have been so many such incidents, and only because the authorities will take no punitive measures against the rabid elements, who arrogate to themselves the task of moral policing and deciding for the rest of us what's right or wrong.They are people who are on the constant lookout for political relevance, and will stoop to politics over religion to attain it.
If the government chooses not to act again, it becomes the responsibility of every broad-minded person of the country to decry its' passiveness and ineptness.How long do we let these ruffians run their shops in the name of piety?
Please Email the Editor