Band member girls leave valley after threatening posts
Srinagar: A member of Kashmir’s first all-girl rock band has left the Valley for Bangalore after the teenage group was forced to call it quits in the wake of abusive and threatening online posts over which police filed a case on Tuesday and opposition by a Muslim cleric.
Although the whereabouts of the girls were kept a secret by the family after the controversy broke out, it has emerged that one of the three girls has gone to Bangalore amid reports she has left the Valley to help her recover from depression. The other two girls remained in the Valley.
An official associated with the investigations said police were able to identify at least six Facebook users who had posted hate messages on the page of the rock band with the help of experts from the cyber crime cell.
He said the Facebook page of the band had received a large number of posts — mostly critical — and it would take some time to sift through all of them.
“Arrests are likely to be made in the next couple of days,” he added.
The girl said the band was disbanded not because of online threats.
“It is because people are not happy with us. People of Kashmir are not happy.” she added.
National Conference leader and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah said it was unfortunate that the girls band was forced to call it quits.
Farooq hoped the girls will not give up music and continue to sing.
The 10th-class students — vocalist-guitarist Noma Nazir, drummer Farah Deeba and guitarist Aneeka Khalid – had formed a band “Pragaash” and performed in December last year with a scintillating performance at the annual ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition in Srinagar and won the best performance award in their first public appearance.
Noma said she is not sure whether she will play the guitar again.
The controversy, meanwhile, brought to fore differences among separatist groups in J and K.
While Dukhtaran-e-Millat(DeM) warned the girls of social boycott, Muslim Khawateen Markaz (MKM) denounced the fatwa of the Grand Mufti against their singing and termed the threat of ostracisation as “unwarranted”.
“There are much bigger issues where fatwas can be issued. Why has there been no fatwa against male singers? Why has there been no fatwa against girls participating in government or army functions,” Zamaruda Habib, patron of MKM told.
Zamaruda said the fatwa is nothing but politics and these things are giving a “bad name” to Kashmir.
