Srinagar:Â Political Parties have for the first time united over some issue and this happened to be a fatwa against an all girls rock band of Jammu & Kashmir named Pragaash.
Ruling Party Indian National Congress today criticized the ‘fatwa’ Â and supported the Jammu and Kashmir government’s stand.
“The state government has taken correct steps,” Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters.
Stating that the ‘fatwa’ against the girls’ band was a “serious” issue, Alvi said, “There could be no restrictions on an individual’s freedom of expression.”
“India is a secular country. There is freedom to preach any religion but it cannot be imposed on anybody,” said Alvi.
Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah came down heavily on those threatening the members of Pragaash, and promised police investigations into the threats.
He encouraged the girls, saying their talent should not be stymied by “a handful of morons who are trying to silence them”.
The chief minister, however, was unfazed and poured scorn on the ‘fatwa’.
“Given the importance people attach to the fatwas of the Grand Mufti, the less said the better,” he tweeted.
BJP which has less presence in the valley also took a strong exception to the Fatwa.
State BJP chief spokesperson Jitendra Singh said: “These (fundamentalists) who are uncomfortable with the return of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir want to keep the Kashmir pot boiling for their vested interests. These are elements which do not want the youth of Kashmir to be a part of the national mainstream in democratic India”
Holding the National Conference-led coalition government in the state responsible for such a situation, Singh said: “It is because of this government’s appeasement policy towards separatists and militants that fundamentalists feel emboldened to hold out such threats.”
He alleged that though Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has distanced himself from the ‘fatwa’ and denounced it, the state government has done little to provide security to members of the rock band or to dissuade the fundamentalist groups from holding them to ransom.
“Past experience bears that on each such occasion, the weak-kneed approach of the government has led to further encouragement of extremists and their designs,” Singh added.
The main opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) alsp supported the band. PDP spokesperson Naeem Akhtar told media persons: “Music is part of our spiritual culture since decades. Kashmir has produced many women singers and Kashmiris are still fond of their songs.”
Separatist leaders also disapproved of the girl’s band and said: “This (band) was against moral values and they (the girls) should refrain from singing. There is no place for such acts in Islam.”
The band Pragaash (morning light) comprising three Class 10 girls, gave their first live performance at Srinagar’s music festival, Battle of the Bands in December last year.
After their performance, there were praises and abuses for them on social networking websites along with threats to disband Pragaash. Sources close to the band said they would not be performing for some time.
The girls’ band attracted public attention when they finished third in a local competition, ‘Battle of Bands’ last month.
Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-din Ahmed, head of the Muslim clergy in Kashmir, issued a ‘fatwa’ (religious decree) on Sunday asking the parents of the three girls who formed the rock band to impart religious education to their daughters. He labelled the girls’ performance as “a shameful act”.