After a couple of years where the terrorists shifted their targets to security forces and shrines, many CD-shops in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata reopened, but militant religious groups are again threatening the entertainment industry in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere in the country in what could be a new wave of attacks.

‘No room for music’
Safdar Hayat Dawar, president of the Tribal Union of Journalists, told Pakistan Press Foundation that a few months ago militants warned the shopkeepers selling music and video CDs to shut their businesses, saying there was "no room for music in Islam."

The blast at Grace Market in the centre of Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhuwa province of Pakistan, completely destroyed 20 shops and partially destroyed 10 other. In early January 2001, CD-markets in Chato Chowk Mardan and Umarzai Charsadda were also bombed.

Concentration of music shops
Grace Market is located in the part of town that has a concentration of over 150 (some sources say 300) music and video shops. Another building in this area was bombed on 9 October 2007.

Officials of the Bomb Disposal Unit said around 10 kilograms of explosive were planted in a motorbike parked outside Grace Market. The explosion was triggered by a remote-controlled device at around 9 p.m.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants have bombed music shops in several cities and towns of the province in the past.


More information can be obtained at

Pakistan Press Foundation - Press Centre
Att: Shahrah Kamal Ataturk
E-mail: ppf (@) pakistanpressfoundation.org
Phone: +92 21 263 3215
pakistanpressfoundation.org