Danish Dari German Spanish French Turkish 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
News stories world-wide
News 2011
News 2010
News 2009
News 2008
News 2007
News 2006
News 2005
News 2004
News 2003
News 2002
News 2001
About music censorship
About Freemuse
Publications
Study room
Activities
Links
Press room

NEWS
28 April 2009

Pakistan:
Singer shot dead by her brothers

Pashto singer Shamim Aiman Udas was murdered on 26 April 2009. According to her husband, she was killed by her own brothers, reported the Pakistani newspapers Daily Times and The News.

Immediately after the killing of Aiman Udas, it was largely suspected that religious militants might have killed her because several singers, male as well as female, had received threats from certain militant groups.

However, her husband later claimed she was killed by her own brothers for breaking the family traditions by marrying for the second time. In her early 30s, she was divorced and had got married for the second time in March 2009.

Popular tv appearance
The news of the murder of has shocked the artist community of the area as well as thousands of her fans. She was killed at the peak of her career, known as a promising Pashto singer and poetess. She gained popularity as a singer in a very short period of time after she appeared on television only a few months ago.

In one of her more popular songs, ‘Mra shum ashna khu pa jwando ki usam, janana sta pa waswaso ki usa’ she sings about the importance of courage, even to the point of defying death.

According to a news story in Daily Times, Aiman Udas' husband, Usman Udas, reported at Paharipura Police Station that the singer’s brothers Alamgir and Ismaeel were not happy with her having singing profession despite their disapproval. They allegedly opened fire on her near Koochi Plaza and killed her. Police registered a case against the two accused.

According to The News International, Aiman Udas (also spelled: Ayman Udaas) was shot dead inside her flat on the Dilazak Road on 27 April.

Her death “is absolutely unacceptable,” Ahmad Ali Adil of the University of Peshawar told RFE / RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan, calling the crime “a murder of humanity.” He said that unless society changes, several other female performers will face similar problems.






Aimin Udas





Click to read more about Pakistan on freemuse.org
Pakistan


Read more on the internet

Google News – continously updated:

Search: 'Udas' + 'Paharipura'


Sources


Radio Liberty – 29 April 2009:

'Female Pakistani Singer Killed In Peshawar'

Daily Times, Pakistan – 28 April 2009:

'Pashto female singer killed'

The News International, Pakistan – 28 April 2009:

'A melodious voice silenced with bullets'


Go to top
Related reading on freemuse.org

Pakistan: Punjab Assembly bans concerts in educational institutions
On 24 January 2012 Punjab Assembly passed a resolution that bans holding of 'objectionable' musical concerts in educational institutions
25 January 2012
Pakistan: Music returns to some of Pakistan's tribal areas
In parts of Pakistan’s tribal areas, music is starting to return, reported Free Speech Radio News in a well-produced radio report on 16 January 2012.
18 January 2012
Pakistan: Taliban campaign against music still in full swing
Militants bombed or torched more than a dozen music shops in the second week of November 2011 in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province and North Waziristan
16 November 2011
Pakistan: Freemuse network will document attacks on musicians
At a two day workshop held in Islamabad 12-13 November 2011 a Pakistani network was set up in support of musicians and composers at risk
15 November 2011
Pakistan: Under the censorship radar, anti-establishment songs flourish
Using humour and satire, song writers increasingly enjoy a new sense of openness and freedom of speech in Pakistan nowadays, reported Times of India
02 November 2011
Pakistan: Bomb blast destroys music and video market in Peshawar
Six people were killed and over 37 injured in a bomb explosion on 19 September 2011 that targeted a music and video CD market in Peshawar
21 September 2011
Pakistan: Broad instability spelled an end to art in Swat Valley
World Policy Institute has published an in-depth article about the development for artists in Swat Valley since 2007, written by Shaheen Buneri
14 September 2011
Pakistan: Threats from the Taliban sends sarod player into exile
Asad Qazalbash, Pakistan’s only accomplished sarod player, has left the country due to a declaration by the Pakistani Taliban that music is un-Islamic
22 August 2011
Pakistan: The Taliban’s war on music has done lasting damage
It will take a long time for Swat’s musical culture to recover from the Taliban’s crackdown on music, reported Shaheen Buneri from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
08 August 2011
Pakistan: Terror campaign by religious militants against Sufi worshippers
In the sixteenth attack on Sufi shrines in two years, Taliban suicide bombers killed 49 and injured 93 Sufi devotees while they were doing music and meditation
08 April 2011
Pakistan: Anti-music militancy increases in the north-western mountain region
The militants are targeting films and music and everything they see as obscene, and the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is deteriorating
21 March 2011
Pakistan: CD markets bombed - once again
The bombings of CD markets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in beginning of February 2011 suggests that militants are again threatening the entertainment industry
24 February 2011
Pakistan: Singer kidnapped by religious militants
On 26 November 2010, unidentified militants kidnapped Musharraf Bengash, a Pashtun singer from the Mir Ali area in North Waziristan. Later, a jirga negotiated his release
08 December 2010
Pakistan: Musicians and artists are returning to Swat Valley
After a military operation against the religious extremists, artists are now returning back to Swat Valley in northern Pakistan, reported The Express Tribune.
26 November 2010
Pakistan: Music school closed after threats from extremists
A group of religious extremists threatened Asad Qazilbash, a renowned sarood player in Islamabad, to stop giving lessons and remove the signboard for his music school
25 October 2010
Pakistan: Fundamentalists attacked a music gathering
In the evening on 5 September 2010 a group of religious fundamentalists attacked a music gathering in Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
06 September 2010
Book by Salman Ahmad: 'Rock & Roll Jihad'
Rock star Salman Ahmad desribes his encounters with angry mullahs and oppressive dictators who wanted all music to be banned from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
10 February 2010
Pakistan: Five injured and 10 music shops damaged by bomb blast
Five people were injured and 10 shops damaged in a bomb blast on 28 January 2010 in a music and video market in the small town of Jand in Pakistan's Punjab province
10 February 2010
USA: Banned music showcased in concert series in New York
A concert with the exiled Pakistani singer Haroon Bacha on 9 December 2009 marks the start of 'Impossible Music Sessions' in New York showcasing banned music
09 December 2009
Pakistan: Music stores are rebuilt in Swat valley
In the north-western Pakistani valley of Swat, the Taliban's ban on all forms of artistic expression has been lifted, and culture now makes a comeback
04 November 2009