Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: A group of tribal clerics have announced a ban on transgender people performing, and any dancing and playing music during weddings, The Express Tribune reported. 26 clerics who in a joint-statement announced that they would not perform the nikah ritual at any marriages that included music and dance.
No last rites on deviation-"If anyone refuses to obey this order or go against it, then the last rites of the entire family would not be performed by clerics," says a written letter signed by the clerics, as per The Express Tribune, which is an internationally affiliated newspaper in Pakistan. The daily quoting a local resident said the announcement was made during a jirga (Tribal Council) that was also attended by local politicians and tribal elders.
No celebratory aerial firing-The contentious letter also warned that such families would face social boycott and that clergy would not attend their weddings. The Tribal Council also banned celebratory aerial firing during wedding festivities. It is pertinent to note that hardline local clerics have already enforced bans on transgender people's music and dances. Maulana Abid Hussaini, a local cleric and former senator, the announcement of the ban was widely publicised on social media channels.
Past regressions-In September 2017, the local priests had attacked music events in Landi Kotal where they seized televisions and musical equipment which they later set on fire. It is pertinent to note Hussaini Tehreek, an organisation, also forbade women from going alone to bazaars and shopping malls in the Parachinar and Kurram districts in July 2021, The Express Tribune reported.
Women, couple barred in picnic areas-The entry of women or couples into picnic areas was outlawed in July 2022 by a jirga gathered in the very orthodox Salarzai area of the Bajaur province as the Council deemed it to be against local customs. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)-run jirga, presided over by Maulana Abdur Rashid, JUI-F district amir for Bajaur, urged that the government back the ban by taking appropriate action.
The jirga also demanded that non-locals be rejected from employment in the district's numerous departments and that local denizens be hired instead. Elders in Tehsil Mamond, Bajaur, forbade women from calling the nearby FM radio stations and attending the Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFC) in February 2021. The violators of the ban would face a fine of PKR 10,000, ANI reported quoting The Express Tribune.
