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| Ghazala Javed performing |
This morning, with my head buried in a pillow, I extended my hand to reach for my phone (that's how I wake up - the phone has to be the first thing I touch and see, lawl). Go on Twitter (these days, Twitter is my BBC), and, since most of the people I'm following on Twitter are Pukhtuns, my entire feed is filled with "#RIP Ghazala" and my heart starts to sink. Turns out, the singer and her father were killed by some "anonymous armed men"!
The reports state that Ghazala Javed was heading out of a beauty salon when she and her father were shot in the car by these supposedly unknown men. The latter source, cited above, also claims that her ex-husband may be involved in the murders (they divorced some 6 months back, it says). Whoever these "unknown" men are, I assure you we'll never know because law does not exist in Pakistan. And ifff it does, anyone can and does break it any time she/he feels like it (especially if it has to do with the death of a female family member. Oh, you know - it always goes justified as "preserving one's family honor"!). And yet again, justice will lose.
Ghazala Javed is one of the few Pashto singers whose songs I can tolerate. I think she was very talented, had a great voice, and could sing very well. When you have talent coming out of females in a society that looks down upon women's public performances (and in a society that looooves music but hates the musician, both the male and the female musician), you can't help but feel the severe loss.
Ghazala Javed is one of the few Pashto singers whose songs I can tolerate. I think she was very talented, had a great voice, and could sing very well. When you have talent coming out of females in a society that looks down upon women's public performances (and in a society that looooves music but hates the musician, both the male and the female musician), you can't help but feel the severe loss.
Rest in peace, Ghazala! May you and your father be blessed with paradise for all of eternity and may the cowards who killed you and your father be punished mercilessly for all of eternity, both in this world and in the next. Aameen. If that's not justice, I don't know what is.
P.S. She even got a Wikipedia entry now. Yay for her! Click here to listen to a song of hers. It's called "Baran dey baraan" ("it's raining").
The video below is a tribute to her. The song is "Zama loya gunah daa da che Pukhtun yam" ("My biggest fault is being a Pukhtun"!) sung by Pashto singer Fayaz Khan. Indeed - the Puhktun's ultimate crime is being born a Pukhtun!
Wot a loss!!!!!!!!!! RIP!!
ReplyDeleteInalillahi wa ina illahi rajioun…( to Allah we came from and to Allah we return)..Such a sad state of events..What has become of our once proud chivalrous nation? where every home boasted of the finest hospitality (melmastia – mehman ka nawazy), where on the battlefield the people fought like lions to defend what they truly loved..,where even Alexander wrote of these tribesmen akin to the lions…where the women were spoken of as the finest in the region for their beauty, their faces the radiance of the moon..and as strong as Malalai of Maiwand who held her fort against the onslaught of the invaders......and what has become of us now..a shadow of what once was..I know not of Ghazala Javed nor was I a fan of her music..but that doesn’t give me the right to put judgment on her..and to kill her in such a cold fashioned way is totally against the norms of this region…May Allah give hidayat to us all (enlightenment)..
ReplyDeletePakistan is known as the land of the pure but there seeps in our pores impurities that are becoming cancerous within our system..acts like this being enacted will have a ripple effect on our already decaying social fabric conscience..our souls are decaying and with the passage of time, we will be but a distant memory just as Ghazala and her father and many others will be a distant memory in a few days time….and what of us..from the top to the bottom..we are blaming each other for everything and seeing no fault of our own in our state of affairs..the inhabitants blaming the government for its incompetence in all matters, the government blaming the inhabitants as miscreants..sure there are some circumstances beyond our control but as the wise once said..ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country..the same principle applies to looking after our loved ones,our neighbors and our strangers..to many of you, Ghazala Javed was a stranger..she was a stranger to me..I knew nothing of her until these events..and yet I felt a peculiar sensation in my heart when I did some research..I wondered what were her thoughts before the tragic events that took place..she was a human being..with love, hope and aspirations....someone who was probably jovial and good natured inside..and as a stranger, as a human, the least I will do is send a prayer in memory of her and pray her family have the courage and patience to overcome this great tragedy..in the end. Ghazala and her father didn’t just die..a part of humanity in this great nation died with her..and will we forget about her in a few days as we have forgotten about those gone past..??or should this be a wakeup call..should we pray in memory of the deceased and pray for grace for the living..Does anyone really care what is happening??I hope all is not lost..there is much we can do to revive what we once had..it’s up to us to make a difference..ultimately it’s up to us..we have a moral obligation..
yahan is dunya mn to itny Haseen logo ko b mar dia jata hy.. khuda jany ye dunya waly kia chahty hn................????????????
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