Popular Pakistani singer reportedly gunned down in drive-by shooting

Well-known Pashto singer Ghazala Javed and her father were shot and killed by unidentified men in Peshawar city of northwest Pakistan, police said.

The men fired indiscriminately at Javed and her father Mohammad Javed while she was leaving a beauty parlour at the busy Mohallah Nau in Dabgari Bazar last night, the singer's relatives told police.

The singer's younger sister, Farhat Bibi, escaped unhurt. The attackers, who were riding motorcycles, escaped after the shooting.

Police officials told the media that they were ascertaining details of the attack to establish who was behind the crime. They said the singer's relatives had not asked police to file charges against anyone as yet.

In recent years, several singers and musicians in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province have been gunned down by the local Taliban, who have declared music "un-Islamic".

Several musicians have fled the northwest after receiving threats from the militants.

Police are also looking at the possibility that Javed's death was linked to differences with her husband.

Javed married Jehangir Khan, a native of Peshawar, some two years ago.

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