Ghazala Javed (; 1 January 1988 – 18 June 2012) was a Pashtun playback singer from Swat Valley, Pakistan. She began singing since 2004 and was "popular with young, progressive ethnic

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

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

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and among Pashtuns around the world.

Career

Ghazala was born on 1 January 1988 in Swat Valley of

province of Pakistan. In late 2007, the

Pakistani Taliban The Pakistani Taliban, officially the Tehreek-i-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current ...

were strengthening their grip in Swat so the young Ghazala and her family fled to the city of

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

. 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 (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and

Kabul Kabul 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. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

where she earned $12,000 to $15,000 per night for singing at wedding parties. According to Radio Kabul 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 Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Time ...

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 A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

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 perpetrators to quickly strike their targets and flee the scene before l ...

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 singers Violence against women in Pakistan Pashtun singers

Career

Personal life

Death

Discography

See also

References