Pakistani singer Ghazala Javed shot dead

Pehsawar, Pakistan (4E) – Popular Pakistani singer Ghazala Javed has been killed with her father at Peshawar’s busy Mohallah Nau in Dabgari Bazaar.

There were different reports on how the incident happened on Monday night. Some say the assailants shot Ghazala dead while she was returning home after coming out of a beauty saloon with her father Javed Mohammad and younger sister Farhat. Others say that the armed men came to their home and silenced the singer.

The autopsy reports, meanwhile, found six bullets from Ghazala’s body and one from her father.

Local police suspect her ex-husband’s involvement in Ghazala’s murder. Ghazala’s divorce case was pending in a family court. The singer was married last year, but had a troubled family life, which had forced her to apply for dissolution of marriage.

Without ruling out any possibilities, the police said it may be an act of terrorism because insurgents frequently target artists who overran Swat valley since 2007. Pashto-native Ghazala had fled from the valley during a military offensive against Taliban militants some three years ago. The terrorists had previously threatened her to stop singing the songs of peace.