Pak village bans music, dance during wedding celebrations

A village in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa banned music and dances during wedding festivities, saying militants could target such "unhealthy" gatherings.
The elected local government representatives in Sheikhan village took the decision yesterday and asked the people to avoid these activities at all cost.
They said they had concrete information shared by security forces that militants could target such gatherings, Express Tribune reported.
The news sent a wave of panic across the village.
When contacted, district member Fazalullah told the paper
They had made the announcements via loudspeakers from mosques but it was not done due to threats of attacks from militants.

Fazaullah said, "We wanted to stop the practice of musical evenings that are organised on the occasion of weddings and continue till quite late into the night."

He said youth participate in them with great zeal and fail to realise that they are not healthy social activities.
"First it reformed the large number of youth who participate in these gatherings and secondly, it prevented any attack that could happen since our village is located adjacent to Khyber Agency," he explained.
Fazalullah said three musical gatherings and dancing programmes have been cancelled as a result of the announcement which shows the success of the undertaking.

Meanwhile, police said they had not received any intelligence warning that stated militants could attack musical programmes.