Afghan musicians in Peshawar: between a rock and a hard place

Manzoor Ali Published June 6, 2022 - 

PESHAWAR: The four Afghan musicians were relaxing in their office in Tehkal area of Peshawar after a performance at an event when police came after them during the early hours of May 28.

Among the four was Javed Khan, (not his real name), who had arrived in Peshawar a few weeks back after a circuitous journey that brought him to Chaman. He was picked up by police that day.

“I have a large household, including an ailing father, to take care of; therefore, I came to Pakistan,” he said. Mr Khan said police checked their documents and took them into custody for illegal stay in Pakistan under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946.

The musicians spent a week behind bars and their arrests created social media uproar. Civil society organisations arranged two protests against their detention until a local court granted them bail on Friday (June 3).

Mr Khan said the dire economic plight of Afghanistan had pushed him into exile. “I had no source of income; therefore, I came to Peshawar.”

The detained musicians are among thousands of Afghans who escaped to Pakistan after the fall of Kabul to Taliban in August last year and are living in constant fear of arrests and deportation.

However, the musicians’ detention has highlighted the hard choices Afghans fleeing their country have to make and the inconveniences they have to put up with.

A tale of two exiles

Hayat Khan, 53, (real name withheld on request), faced displacement from Afghanistan twice during the course of conflict in his country. He first fled to Pakistan in his childhood after the Soviet invasion of his country in 1979 and stayed here for 25 years.

Mr Khan’s musical journey started at the same time and he took inspiration from one of his relatives, a rubab player. He became a pupil of Misal Khan Ustad to learn the rubab. Later he went to work alongside Ahmed Gul Ustad, Nazeer Gul and Gulzar Alam.

“I learnt real music from Gulzar Alam and he is my Ustad (teacher),” Mr Khan said.

The US invasion of Afghanistan opened the second chapter in Mr Khan’s life. He had returned to Afghanistan after Hamid Karzai took over as president in 2001.

The US invasion gave birth to a bourgeoning media scene and culture industry. It was during this time Mr Khan went to work with several Afghan television channels like Shamshad, Khursheed, Lamar and Zhuwandun.

The reversal of fortunes for Mr Khan came when the Taliban rolled into Kabul last year. That fateful day he locked his office in Jade-i-Maiwand area of Kabul and went into hiding.

After a hide and seek lasting two months, he decided to move to Pakistan and came to Kandahar. Then he crossed the Pak-Afghan border via Chaman, reaching Quetta. From there he came to Peshawar, where he is currently staying with his family.

While in Kandahar, his teenage son went missing, but the boy contacted the family after several months, telling them that he had managed to sneak into Turkey via Iran.

Looking at his son’s jubilant face in the picture and pondering over his uncertain fate as a refugee, Hayat Khan’s eye welled up. “If Turks get hold of him, he will be deported to Kabul on the next flight,” he feared.

About their stay in Peshawar, Hayat Khan said “we cannot even think of venturing out” to Qissa Khawni Bazaar since “we have no visas” and could be deported to Afghanistan if police arrested them.

In case of deportation, he said, “we face threat to our lives at the hands of Taliban”.

According to Hayat Khan, he and many other people lost their livelihood after the fall of Kabul and were now living in penury under constant threat of arrest and deportation.

Public support for musicians

According to Rashid Ahmed Khan, president of Hunari Tolana, about 150 Afghan artists had made Peshawar their home since August last year.

His organisation took up their case with the KP culture department. “We have shared their names with the culture department. The department will now share them with police,” he said.

He said since Pakistan was not issuing visas for Afghans, most of them were coming via Chaman.

Hunari Tolana, Mafkoora Research Centre and other organisations staged a protest against the musicians’ detention last week.

The Human Rights Commi­ssion of Pakistan (HRCP) also expressed concern over the detention.

Following the protests, the authorities decided the culture department would issue cards to the musicians after registration in order to avoid a repeat of the May 28 incident.

The sword of deportation

The musicians’ fate still hangs in the balance despite an outpouring of support and their release on bail.

Tariq Afghan, a Peshawar High Court lawyer who is representing the detained musicians, said Islamabad should accommodate them on humanitarian grounds.

On the other hand, police sources told Dawn they had registered over 1,700 cases against Afghan nationals and arrested over 1,900 of them.

It was not clear how many of them were deported.

According to Capital City Police Officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan, the Afghans were being arrested for having no valid documents for their stay in Pakistan.

Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, the KP government’s spokesperson, said police had recently taken action against those illegally staying in the country.

He added that the KP government would chalk out a mechanism to avoid a similar situation in future.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2022