Melodies in exile: Afghan musicians struggle in twin shadows of persecution

By Amjad Ali

Islamabad/Kabul, Jan 23 (EFE).- For Afghan musicians, exile often means trading one hostile environment for another, as Pakistan’s looming deportations force many to return to the persecution they fled.

The Taliban’s return to power in 2021 silenced Afghanistan’s once-vibrant music scene, branding it “anti-Islamic” and compelling musicians to seek refuge in neighboring Pakistan.

In late 2023, Pakistan began expelling undocumented Afghans, citing a surge in bombings allegedly carried out by Afghan nationals. Since then, over 600,000 undocumented Afghans have been deported, drawing criticism from human rights organizations warning of repression under the Taliban’s hardline regime.

More than four million Afghans, including approximately 1.7 million undocumented refugees, have lived in Pakistan since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Many fled due to professions or affiliations deemed “unislamic” by the Taliban.

The Taliban’s Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice enforces its music ban with zeal. In 2023 alone, authorities conducted nearly 69,000 inspections of public venues, destroying over 21,000 musical instruments. This crackdown has turned music into a forbidden relic, silencing celebrations and livelihoods alike.

Musicians like Naseer Maroof (pseudonym), once celebrated performers, now endure menial jobs. “Unfortunately, my instruments were destroyed during a raid on my house,” he told EFE. He doesn’t even dare listen to music in his taxi. “Feeding the children and the family is also our responsibility,” he said.

Haroon, another musician in Kabul, now sells potatoes to survive. “Weddings and parties are silent now, music is banned,” he told EFE, lamenting a recent past filled with “entertainment, music, and a happy life in Afghanistan.”

In exile, musicians face a constant struggle to keep their art alive.

Hashmat Omid, a popular Afghan singer, fled Kabul with his family after paying traffickers to cross the border following a visa denial. In Peshawar, he runs a modest studio, striving to preserve Afghan musical traditions.

“Music is prohibited in Afghanistan, but we work to keep it alive. It is an integral part of our culture,” Omid said. His studio serves as both a creative sanctuary and a source of livelihood, though the threat of deportation looms large. “Living in Kabul was too dangerous, but here, it’s a constant stress,” he said, recounting police harassment and threats to shut down his studio.

The Taliban’s crackdown has also devastated music education. The National Institute of Music of Afghanistan (NIMA), which once nurtured over 1,000 students, has been scattered worldwide. “More than 200 students have moved to Portugal to rebuild their school,” Omid said, adding that he has lost with many of them.

Shadab Manawar, an 18-year-old musician, shares a similar plight. After being threatened for his ion for music, he sought refuge in Peshawar. “The Taliban grabbed me by the hair and told me to either sing Naat (poems in praise of the Prophet Muhammad) or leave the country,” Manawar recounted. Now in Pakistan, he lives under the constant shadow of deportation. “The police don’t forgive us here, and the Taliban won’t forgive us there. Where can we go?” he asked.

A recent order from the Peshawar High Court temporarily halting the deportation of over 150 Afghan musicians during asylum processing offers a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak situation.

Omid estimates that more than 200 musicians, singers, and artists, along with their families — around 700 people — are struggling to survive in Peshawar, clinging to the hope of resettlement in a third country. EFE

lk-aa-igr-sk