The teenaged girls’ band Pragaash on Tuesday said the decision to quit playing was taken keeping in the mind the decree from Kashmir’s government-appointed chief priest. Distraught, one of the band-members has even left the Valley for Bengaluru.
Although the whereabouts of the girls were kept a secret by the family, it has emerged that one of the three girls has gone to Bengaluru amid reports she has left the Valley to help her recover from depression. The other two girls remained in the Valley.
The girls said: “As Mufti Saheb said it is un-Islamic and haraam (prohibited by Islam) and we should not continue, that’s why we have disbanded. We respect him, we respect the people of Kashmir and their opinions. That’s why we quit.”
The statement came amid police registering a case and identifying several Facebook users who had posted abusive and threatening messages on the page of the only all-girl rock band of the Valley.
“A case under Section 66 A of the IT Act and Section 506 RPC (Criminal Intimidation) has been registered in police station Rajbagh with regard to the hate messages,” a police official said.
An official overseeing investigation said the police had identified at least a dozen people and arrests in the case were imminent. “In a day or two you will see some arrest,” he said, requesting anonymity. Police are sifting through several posts on the band’s Facebook page. Within days after their performance in Srinagar, the band began receiving online threats and absurd comments, which were followed up with a fatwa by Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad. However, on Tuesday, a top separatist women’s group backed the teen girls.
(with PTI inputs)