Pakistan

Khyber clerics ban music, dancing by transgender persons at weddings

Hardline religious figures announce boycott of nikah and funeral prayers of those violating ban

Abuzar Afridi July 08, 2023

The announcement was made during a jirga attended not only by the clerics but also by local political figures and tribal elders. SCREENGRAB

LANDI KOTAL:

A group of local tribal clerics has once again taken the law into their own hands by imposing a ban on playing music and dancing by transgender persons during weddings in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district.

The decision was unanimously announced by a gathering of 26 clerics on Friday, who further declared that any weddings featuring music and dancing would not have the nikah ceremony performed by clerics.

“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.

The announcement was made during a jirga attended not only by the clerics but also by local political figures and tribal elders, as reported by a local resident while talking to The Express Tribune.

Additionally, the letter revealed that local residents would be urged to boycott such families, and clerics would not attend their marriages either.

The group also imposed a ban on celebratory aerial firing during wedding celebrations.

This is not the first time that hardline local clerics have imposed bans on music and dances by transgender persons. In September 2017, a similar group of clerics set fire to television sets and musical instruments in Landi Kotal, which had been seized during raids on music parties.

Likewise, in July 2021, an organisation called the Hussaini Tehreek banned women without a male companion from visiting shopping centres and bazaars in Parachinar and Kurram districts.

Taking law into their own hands once again, a group of local tribal clerics has banned music in weddings along with dancing of the transgender persons in Khyber tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

A group of 26 clerics gathered on Friday and unanimously announced the… pic.twitter.com/uF6ZN5nCY1
— The Express Tribune (@etribune) July 8, 2023

The announcment of the ban was shared on social media platforms, gaining widespread attention due to the influence of its leader, Maulana Abid Hussaini, a local cleric and former senator.

In July 2022, a jirga held in the ultra-conservative Salarzai area of Bajaur district prohibited the entry of women or couples into picnic spots, deeming it against local traditions.

The jirga, overseen by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and addressed by JUI-F district Amir for Bajaur, Maulana Abdur Rashid, demanded that the government take action in support of the ban. The jirga also called for the recruitment of local residents in various departments within the district, rejecting non-locals.

In February 2021, elders in Tehsil Mamond, Bajaur, banned women from visiting the Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFC) and making phone calls to local FM radio stations. Violators of the ban would face a fine of Rs10,000.