Afghan artists protest arrests, deportations in Peshawar

Afghan artists held a protest in Peshawar on Monday against the highhandedness of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police and Pakistani authorities' decision to deport them to Afghanistan, currently ruled by the conservative Taliban regime.

According to the artists, they were being "thrown to the wolves" as police were using "deportation clauses" of the Foreigners Act to send them back to Afghanistan, where their lives were in danger.

The artists, who also recorded their protest against the Afghan government's decision to ban music, said they had come to Pakistan to seek refuge but the "model" K-P police had increased their suffering by making unnecessary arrests.

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The protesters said, "Police bring deportation charges against them as soon as the cops know that they are artists."

The Taliban, who had outright banned music during their rule from 1996 to 2001, swept back into power on August 15, 2021. Following the fall of Kabul, scores of artists left the country as videos of the Taliban smashing and burning instruments started circulating in the media.

In October last year, Taliban fighters shot dead two wedding guests who were listening to music. A relative of the victims had said Taliban fighters had opened fire while music was being played at a wedding in Sorkhrud, in Nangarhar province in the east of the country, killing two and wounding two more.