Conservatism, fundamentalism, and extremism stifling Rabab’s soulful tunes, a beacon of hope for peace in a marginalized and militancy-hit Pashtun society.
Musa Khan, a 6th semester student of Journalism and Mass Communication at Malakand University, who was also a student leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), and Deputy General Secretary of Pukhtoon Students Federation (PSF) Malakand University, died in the road incident. Before his death, he had been served multiple show cause notices and expelled from the university/hostel by the Hostel warden late at night for bringing Rabab to the university premises.
Musa Khan, a young, vibrant and forward-looking student who wants to keep the flame of peace and love alive through Rabab, unfortunately becomes a victim of fundamentalism prevailing in the universities, a university where there is a place for ethnic clashes and religious madness, but not for Rabab.
His friends posted on social media that Musa Khan was under much mental stress on this matter. Later, he had a fatal accident on his way home. First, he was taken to a local hospital and then referred to Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar but he couldn’t survive due to extreme head injury and the unavailability of a bed in the ICU in the capital city Peshawar.
The incident Sparked protest demonstration across the region. Hundreds of students with “Rabab” took to the street in solidarity with young Musa Khan, who was the victim of an accident that night, for bringing the Rubab to Malakand University. The student’s protesters demand to hold the university administration Provost Janas Khan, chief proctor Aziz Khan and hostel warden Habib Khan responsible for the sad incident and chanted slogans “stand for justice and stand for Musa”.
The protesters called on the administration to raise the issues on a national level and stop the spread of extremist ideologies in universities.
Ziauddine Yousafzai, Malala father, wrote on his Twitter that
Progressive Students Collective (PSC), an independent left-wing student’s organization, condemned the university’s actions and wrote on Twitter that
Awami National Party (ANP), while condemning the sad demise of Musa Khan, released a statement on Twitter that “hospital administration negligent” is responsible for death of young Musa khan.
While taking action on the incident,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati ordered the provisional administration to suspend the provost and proctor of the Malakand University and punish both for irresponsible acts.
Conservative attitude toward music in Pashtun society
Conservative attitude toward music in Pashtun society can be traced back to a decade-long war fought in the backyard of Pashtun land, which gave birth to the fundamentalist, extremist mindset and the culture of conservatism that openly advocated for banning music and allowing fundamentalists to enforce their outdated beliefs, which undermine those that could provide better and more progressive ideas in Pashtun society.Â
Further, during dark, horrible era of militancy, Pashtun musicians and music became victims of extreme censorship, oppression, and marginalization. Militants forced musicians to abandon their profession, and several music centers were forcibly closed and bombed.
The religious clerics, start using derogatory term Damaan for musicians, the cleric used the word Damaan in the sense of dishonorable people. The cleric’s harsh interpretation of religious belief posed a significant obstacle to the freedom of musicians and music.
To counter the extremism toward music, Rabab, considered the lion of the instrument, has play a special and important role in resisting extremist ideology prevailing in the Pashtun society. Rabab is used to plays a wide range of Pashto music, from traditional folk tunes and nationalistic Pashtun songs to songs about peace, women’s rights, democracy, and development.
There is so much passion for Rabab in Pashtun society, Saad Haider a scholar from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, conducted thorough research on rabab and told DAWN
Saad Haider further explained that Rabab was part of Pashtun culture for decades, well-known poets like Rahman Baba and Hamza Baba were not just fans of Rabab but played it to spread their Sufi message.
As a society, our focus should be to embraced Rabab an its values to create a more inclusive and harmonious Pashtun society that celebrates individual freedom and creativity. Â