All-girl rock band forced to quit in Kashmir after being found un-Islamic
Pragaash, an all-girl rock band made up of high school students in Indian-run Kashmir,…
by
macleans.ca on Wednesday, February 13, 2013 9:03am -
Here at Maclean's, we appreciate the written word. And we appreciate you, the reader. We are always looking for ways to create a better user experience for you and wanted to try out a new functionality that provides you with a reading experience in which the words and fonts take centre stage. We believe you'll appreciate the clean, white layout as you read our feature articles. But we don't want to force it on you and it's completely optional. Click "View in Clean Reading Mode" on any article if you want to try it out. Once there, you can click "Go back to regular view" at the top or bottom of the article to return to the regular layout.
Pragaash, an all-girl rock band made up of high school students in Indian-run Kashmir, has disbanded after their performance was declared “un-Islamic.” The girls—base guitarist Aneeqa Khalid, singer Noma Nazir and drummer Farah Deeba—had played in a battle-of-the-bands competition, winning fans but triggering threats and condemnation by a Muslim leader. “When girls and young women stray from the rightful path…this kind of non-serious activity can become the first step toward our destruction,” Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad said in a statement.
“We respect their opinion and we have quit,” an unnamed member of Pragaash told BBC Hindi. “But I don’t know why we are being stopped.” Meantime, the government will hunt down and arrest those who posted threats on the band’s Facebook page, pledged Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
