The ex-husband of Pashto singer and anti-Taliban activist Ghazala Javed has been sentenced to death [1] by a court in Pakistan's northwestern Swat district, for murdering the singer and her father in 2012.
During her lifetime, Ghazala Javed bravely defied [3] Taliban pressure to stop singing and spoke up against creeping Talibanization [4]in her hometown Swat. The Taliban were briefly in control of Swat and were cleared from the area after a massive military operation by the Pakistan army in 2009.Ghazala's ex-husband Jehangir Khan was awarded a double death sentence along with a Rs 70 million (0.7 million USD) fine. He has announced plans to appeal the decision.
A number of Pakistanis reacted to the court's decision and remembered the enigmatic singer on Twitter.
Following the news of the sentence, SAbaseen expresses relief:
So good to know that our dearest late #GhazalaJaved [5] is finally recieving justice — a little late…but better late than never, eh.
— SAbaseen (@SesapZai) December 16, 2013 [6]
Ghazala was an ethnic-Pashtun and sang in Pakistan's north-western region's language Pashto. One of her fans, a Pashtun Twitter user Schazad Bangash, praised the sentence:
I wud really want to see this guy hung in bloody intersection for killing #GhazalaJaved [5]. Good decision. http://t.co/fZd1eaZufp [7]
— Schazad Bangash (@schazad) December 16, 2013 [8]
Commenting on the judgement another Pashtun Twitter user Nazrana Yousufzai said:
#RIP [9] GhazalaJaved- Your murderer has given what he deserved – http://t.co/nmGtukImUj [10]
— Nazrana Yousufzai (@NazranaYusufzai) December 16, 2013 [11]
Expressing his disbelief on the legal and judicial system, Royal Pashtoon responded:
@NazranaYusufzai [12] You know this sentence will be reduced to 6 years till the proceudre of Supreme Court.
— Royal Pashtoon (@samzmer) December 16, 2013 [13]
Journalist Javed Aziz Khan posts a portrait of the singer:
Singer #GhazalaJaved [5] ,killed in #Peshawar [14] in 2012. Court awarded death sentence to her ex-spouse in her murder case pic.twitter.com/pKoCTsQgtq [15]
— The Commoner (@JavedAzizKhan) December 16, 2013 [16]
Ghazala's Pashto songs were also popular in Afghanistan. Pashto is one of Afghanistan's official languages [17]. Hyprgee posted a clip from Ghazala's last concert in Kabul:
Ghazala javed Last Concert Pashto song 2013 in kabal Part 5 YouTube: http://t.co/YrFMCSVMF1 [18] via @YouTube [19]
— Hyprgee (@hyprgee) December 18, 2013 [20]