Faraz Anwar denied a place on rent in Karachi for being a musician

Ace guitarist has detailed the latest discrimination he faced in Pakistan and urged fellow artists to take a stand.

Ace guitarist Faraz Anwar, who’s known for calling spade a spade, has detailed the latest discrimination he faced as a musician in Pakistan.

Taking to his social media, the Mizraab front man, who’s made immense contributions to the heavy metal, hard rock music scene of Pakistan, revealed how he was refused to rent a place in Karachi’s Gulshan e Iqbal because of his occupation.

In the process, he touched upon the several forms of discriminations musicians face in Pakistan, among which, is the sad reality of banks failing to acknowledge music as a full-time profession and in turn, refusing artists the right to open their own bank accounts. He also pointed out how musicians can’t even call themselves musicians on their national ID cards.

Taking to his Facebook, Faraz started off by narrating, “Yesterday I went to see a house portion for rent in Gulshan e Iqbal and the landlord asked me what I do [for a living], so I told him that I am a musician and singer.” He then relayed how the landlord got back to him today to tell him that “we can't give [you] our house on rent because you're a musician and we are very religious people.”

The Kitni Sadiyan crooner went on, “I don't know what to expect from now on because people over here are extremely religious [yet] we say everyone has freedom in Islam. But this is how we treat our artists!”

He continued to lament, “This is so shameful and disgusting. Wake up musicians, this is how Pakistan is going to treat you. [So] stand up for your rights or leave this profession because this is not a profession here anyway.”

Faraz pointed out how musicians in Pakistan are dubbed Muslim and ‘kafir’ at the same time, depending on everyone else’s convenience. “When people need entertainment they call us, when artists need a place on rent they say we can't give our place to kafirs. You can't even open a bank account in Pakistan if you say you are a musician. Thanks to Pakistan for everything,” he concluded.

After acknowledging the comments on this post of his, some of which accused him of defaming Pakistan, Faraz penned a follow-up post to explain why the whole system needs to change in order for individuals, who look down on musicians, to pay them their due respect despite their personal biases.

He shared, “After reading all your messages let me clarify that it's not about renting a place it's about the musician rights. Musicians or artists can't open a bank account unless they lie. You can't write your profession on national ID card. Musicians can't rent out place for their families.”

Faraz reinstated why asking the artists to remain silent will not solve their problems. “So what we want from artists is to keep their mouth shut and ignore what is happening, wow. I’m so disappointed after reading majority of the messages. May Allah guide you [all] to become a better nation and Muslim[s]; a nation where everyone has freedom to share their views, may Allah bless you all,” he concluded.

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