Ghazala Javed ( ps, ; 1 January 1988 – 18 June 2012) was a Pashtun playback singer from

Swat Valley Swat District (, ps, سوات ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa pro ...

, Pakistan. She began singing since 2004 and was "popular with young, progressive ethnic

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

. Her music was famous not only in Pakistan but also in neighbouring

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

and among Pashtuns around the world.

Career

Ghazala was born on 1 January 1988 in

province of Pakistan. In late 2007, the Pakistani Taliban were strengthening their grip in Swat so the young Ghazala and her family fled to the city of

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

. They settled in Peshawar and Ghazala began her singing career, subsequently recorded the songs "Baran dy baran dy" and "Lag rasha kana". Later in her career, she sang more melodious songs and became known amongst the Pashtun people of Pakistan, Afghanistan and those living abroad. She began appearing in stage-shows in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

and

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

where she earned $12,000 to $15,000 per night for singing at wedding parties. According to

Radio Kabul Radio Afghanistan, also known as Radio Kabul or Voice of Sharia, is the Public broadcasting, public radio station of Afghanistan, owned by Radio Television Afghanistan. The frequencies are 1107 kHz (AM) and 105.2 MHz (FM) for the Kabul area. The ...

director Abdul Ghani Mudaqiq, "She was paid more than any other Pashtun artist—male or female—in Kabul... She was our most requested and popular Pashto singer." Her songs "Za lewaney da mena", "Za da cha khqula ta fikar wari yem", "kho leg rasha rasha kana"and "Mena ba kawo Janana mena ba kawo" had a positive critical reception. She was nominated for a

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

in 2010 and received a ''Khyber Award'' in 2011.

Personal life

On 7 February 2010, Ghazala married Jehangir Khan, a property dealer in Peshawar, but of late was living with her father due to differences with her husband. She learned that her husband had another wife before her, leading to her separation from Javed. In November 2010, she separated from her husband and moved to her parents' home. On 12 October 2011, Ghazala filed a petition in the civil court of Asghar in

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

for divorce from Jehangir. The court decided in her favor on 4 December 2011.

Death

Ghazala, along with her father, was shot dead in a

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

by gunmen on a motorcycle, on June 18, 2012. On 16 December 2013 Swat District and Sessions Court found her former husband, Jahangir Khan guilty of killing her and her father and awarded him two death sentences along with 70 million Rs in fines. On 22 May 2014 the Peshawar High Court set aside the sentence on the basis of compromise between the heirs of the two victims and Jehangir Khan.

Discography

* 2009 – Ghazala Javed Vol.1 * 2010 – Ghazala Javed And azia Iqbal* 2010 – Ghazala Javed Vol.2 * 2010 – Raza Che Rogha Okro * 2011 – Best Of Ghazala Javed * 2011 – Ghazala Javed Vol.3 * 2011 – Zo Spogmaii Yum * 2012 – Zhwandon TV concert in Afghanistan

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Javed, Ghazala 1988 births Pakistani women singers Pashto-language singers People from Swat District 2012 deaths Pakistani murder victims Pakistani artists Pashtun women Violence against women in Pakistan

Career

Personal life

Death

Discography

See also

References