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Waziristan musician prays for Taliban defeat

‘I recite from the Holy Koran every morning and pray for the success of the military operation and when they are defeated I will buy another rubab’: musician Mohammad Akbar, pictured here sitting in queue to register with authorities in Dera Ismail Khan after fleeing his native South Waziristan. —Photo by AFP
‘I recite from the Holy Koran every morning and pray for the success of the military operation and when they are defeated I will buy another rubab’: musician Mohammad Akbar, pictured here sitting in queue to register with authorities in Dera Ismail Khan after fleeing his native South Waziristan. —Photo by AFP

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Mohammad Akbar says he prays every day for the Pakistani army to crush the Taliban so he can make sweet music once more without fearing for his life.

‘They smashed it into pieces and warned me of serious consequences if I ever played it again,’ said Akbar as he recalled the day two years ago that the Islamists forced him to give a recital of his rubab — a traditional lute-like instrument that is popular in Pakistan and Afghanistan.