An all-female rock band in Jammu and Kashmir - a first for the region - was forced to break up after a senior cleric called the musicians un-Islamic. He banned them in a controversy that has gripped the region.The three-member group Pragaash was also the target of an online hate campaign. They had won a talent contest in December. Now Bashiruddin Ahmad, the grand mufti of Jammu and Kashmir, has issued a fatwa ordering the band to break up.
Many in the Kashmir Valley support the girls' right to make music. Prabod Janwal, editor of the Kashmir Times, said the controversy was "one of the major stories, since it involves all the civil society, general public, citizens and everybody in the whole of Jammu and Kashmir.
Asked if the clash reflected a division in society, Janwal said he believed "Jammu and Kashmir is not a highly-conservative society, it has been very open society, very progressive. I think women have every right to education and performances and other sorts of activities related to culture, literature and the performing arts."
But "now and then, clerics have been acting on their own, or trying to enforce their own sort of Islamic fundamentals on the whole of the society."
He said the current issue started a month ago after some people "posted abuses" and objected to the performances of the all-girl rock band.
Janwa said the state government has been reluctant to stand up to the mufti. He asked, "When the whole of the society is opposed to the utterances of the cleric, why should the government remain silent?"