SALON

Tuesday, Feb 5, 2013 6:32 PM UTC

After threats and intimidation, Kashmir’s first all-girl band calls it quits

The band has also become an unwitting political tool in the region's ongoing political and religious struggle

By

Topics: Punk, punk rock, rock and r, women in music, Teenagers, ,

After threats and intimidation, Kashmir's first all-girl band calls it quits (Credit: YouTube)

An all-girl rock band in Indian-controlled Kashmir is breaking up after just one show. Not because of clashing egos or the allure of going solo, per usual rock tradition. Instead, the pressure became too much after violent threats received on social media and a fatwa from a top Muslim cleric have turned the band’s three teenage members into unwitting political tools in the region’s ongoing political and religious struggle.

In a recent interview, the teenagers insisted that they didn’t want to be viewed as fodder for a media narrative about “Muslim girls who break down conservative barriers.” Really, they just want to play music, they said.

Citing influences like Metallica, Cradle of Filth and Green Day, Pragassh (“fist light” in Kashmiri) first came to national attention after placing third in Srinagar’s battle of the bands. “It was awesome and overwhelming. We were getting all this attention and a standing ovation. Then we got other offers to play,” said Aneeqa Khalid, Pragassh’s 15-year-old bass player.

But with growing attention came scrutiny. The girls were trolled on social media and called un-Islamic. One commenter even suggested they could be raped for performing in front of men they didn’t know.

Still, they wanted to keep playing. Dealing with the frustration the best way they could — “I have been so tense about the media hype that I’ve been playing my guitar so hard,” said singer and guitarist Noma Nazir — they considered focusing on recording an album instead of playing live shows to appease critics.

Then Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad, Kashmir’s state-sponsored cleric, issued a fatwa ordering the girls to “stop from these activities and not to get influenced by the support of political leadership,” and the pressure simply became too much. On Monday, the teenagers announced they were quitting the band, and Pragassh was no more.

According to the New York Times, Khalid’s mother has said that she and her husband are now afraid to let their daughter leave the house, recalling a recent incident in which acid was thrown on the face of a female teacher in Srinagar.

And while the girls don’t want to be viewed as symbols, the controversy has showcased the complexities of growing up in the midst of the religious, political and factional struggles that continue to plague the region.

Mounting political pressure and their conservative surroundings may have forced the girls to break up their band, but not to put down their instruments. Nazir insists that music remains a passion. “Whenever I’m angry or sad, it helps me to get out of it,” she said in a recent interview. “It’s kind of a rescue.”

Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 1 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
3034 points3035 points | 1910 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
951 points952 points | 486 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
146 points147 points | 47 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
30 points31 points | 13 comments
vote
New campaign compares gun control to anti-LGBT discrimination
24 points25 points | 10 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations