Præsentation af Freemuse på danskPresentacíon de FreemusePrésentation de FreemusePresentation in Arabic
Click here to go to start page Click here to go to start page
Search Sort content by country/region Sort content by artist Sort content by subject
About music censorship
Artists on censorship
About Freemuse
Publications
Study room
Activities
News
News 2007
News 2006
News 2005
News 2004
News 2003
News 2002
News 2001
Links
Press room

NEWS
19 March 2007

Pakistan:
Islamic music prohibition discussed on Danish tv

'Our prophet was born to do away with loud music', a mullah from Pakistan's second-largest mosque was quoted as saying in a report from Pakistan on the national tv-channel DR1 on 18 March 2007

"This is a big crisis, and this is turning many Pakistanis into a more and more schizofrenic kind of behaviour where we are both expressing extreme Westernism and modernism and at the same time extreme conservativism," explained Pakistani journalist and author Ahmad Rashid in a tv report from Pakistan which was produced by Danish journalist Marie Buss. He stated that Pakistan increasingly is influenced by religious hardliners, and that there are more madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan today than there were before 2001.


The tv report showed an interview with Hafiz Mohammad Ashraf – a mullah at the Badshahi Mosque, situated in Lahore. The mosque is the second-largest mosque in the country, capable of accommodating over 55,000 worshippers. According to him, music is a bad thing and should be prohibited. The tv reporter also interviewed Amir, an owner of a music shop, who explained what he believes are the best qualities in music.

The seven-minutes report was broadcast in the programme '21 Søndag' on Danish Broadcasting Corporation's most viewed channel. It can be viewed on the web site of the tv channel in one week.



View the programme

Home page of '21 Søndag' (in Danish language) – 18 March 2007:

www.dr.dk/DR1/soendag


Related articles


Asia Times – 14 March 2007:

'Beards - and polio - in Taliban country'
   By Ashfaq Yusufzai in Peshawar

International Herald Tribune – 14 March 2007:

'Islamic militants increasingly targeting Pakistan'

Google News – continuously updated:

Search 'Taliban' + 'music'

Go to top
Related reading on freemuse.org

Pakistan: Music breaks chains in North West Pakistan
The melody of Pashto music that has been in chains for the last five years has now found a way to bless the hearts of its lovers with a renewed zeal and life
21 May 2008
Pakistan: Music and militancy in the frontier (radio report)
This radio report tells about religious militants' attacks on music centres, and the reactions from the owners of the music business in Swat Valley of North-West Pakistan.
25 February 2008
Pakistan: Musicians and singers live in danger
A complete ban on all singing and dancing has been implemented in Mingora city in northern Pakistan. The singers and dancers have been thrown out of business
13 December 2007
Pakistan: String of bomb attacks on CD shops across the northwest province
Religious militants have blown up numerous music shops in the northwest region. On 9 October in Peshawar a bomb blast damaged almost all 40 shops in Hussain CD market
11 October 2007
Pakistan: Attack on hotel where music was played
Dozens of local Taliban extremists attacked and ransacked a hotel in Mingora in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, because people were dancing and playing music there
18 September 2007
Pakistan: Taliban group issues new ban on sale of music
If you sell music CDs and cassettes in Zargari and other areas in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, you will now be fined 50,000 rupees
23 August 2007
Pakistan: Religious music prohibition discussed in popular movie
Feature film about a musician who gets inspired by a cleric to give up music for religious reasons became Pakistan's highest grossing movie of all time
06 August 2007
Pakistan: Religious extremists destroyed 25 music shops
In June 2007 alone, there were more than 20 bomb attacks on music shops in north-west Pakistan. On 4 July, five more music shops were set ablaze with petrol
04 July 2007
Freemuse: Religious fanatics a threat to music
Freemuse presentation at the IASPM conference for popular music researchers from the whole world - in 2007 held in Mexico City
27 June 2007
Afghanistan: Music download shop attacked, two killed
Two people were killed and several wounded by a bomb that exploded in a music download shop in Afghanistan's south-eastern town of Khost on 22 April 2007
09 May 2007
Pakistan: Intensified campaign against music
Religious militants in north-western Pakistan continue violent attacks on property belonging to people who sell or listen to music
08 May 2007
Pakistan: Music business faces serious threats in North West Pakistan
1,200 owners of music centres have been warned by Islamic hardliners to close down, and on 21 April 2007, three more video and music shops were blown up by a bomb
23 April 2007
Pakistan: Religious extremists request radio to stop its music programmes
Dera Radio was asked by unknown callers to stop it's music programmes because they are "un-Islamic" and "against shariate"
18 April 2007
Pakistan: Music CDs burned in the streets of Islamabad
Emotionally charged religious youth screamed slogans against perceived immorality as they burned a pile of music CDs and cassettes in Pakistan's capital on 6 May 2007
08 April 2007
Pakistan: Fear and persecution follows Afghan musicians
The fear and persecution which forced Afghan singers to leave their country now has followed them to their exile in Peshawar in Pakistan
04 April 2007
Pakistan: Islamic music prohibition discussed on Danish tv
'Our prophet was born to do away with music', a mullah from Pakistan's second-largest mosque was quoted as saying on the Danish tv-channel DR1 on 18 March 2007
19 March 2007
Pakistan: Extremists kill one, injure two in music shop attacks
Extremist religious groups intensify their campaign against all forms of entertainment in north-west Pakistan. Attacks on music centres left one killed and two seriously injured
18 March 2007
Pakistan: Music and video shop blown away
"Close within three days – or you will be blown away." This threat by the religious extremists became reality when a video centre was blown away on 13 March 2007
15 March 2007
Pakistan: Music centres threatened by religious extremists
A campaign launched by a religious leader against listening to music has taken a dangerous turn in Swat Valley of North-West Frontier Province, reports our correspondent
10 March 2007
Pakistan: Fine for playing music in taxi, music shop attacked
The Taliban in Pakistan's in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan are imposing a fine of 500 rupees for any one playing music in public, reports several news agencies
03 March 2007