i just cam across dis and i Decided 2 share
'AFGHAN IDOL' – d most hated
woman in Afghanistan Why? because she dared to sing &
dance in d TV final of her country’s
version of American Idol. During her
sedate routine, her headscarf
slipped, showing her hair and
outraging the war-torn country’s religious fundamentalists. SETARA HUSSAINZADA is a shining
beacon of hope for the peace-starved
young people of Afghanistan. Yet the
Muslim woman, 25, is now in hiding and
too terrified to show her face. She received death threats for her
“blasphemy” on the Afghan Star show
two years ago, was evicted from her
home and now will not venture into the
street without armed bodyguards. Setara admits that she was devastated
when her fellow countrymen called her
“loose” and said she “deserves to die”
for dancing and showing her hair. She
says: “I felt like a bird in a cage. “Any artist who lives in Afghanistan and gets
to some sort of popularity, especially females,
they face a lot of problems from the people,

But her fellow talent show wannabe Tahir
Shaqi says of Setara: “She has a nice voice
but her actions on stage aren’t favoured by the
Afghan people.”Setara did a very bad thing.
Even if she wanted first place, she should not
do that. Her life is in danger. She will pay a very big price.” But Setara is unrepentant. She says: “It’s like
they’ve never seen a person before. “The
feelings I had on stage made me act in this
way. I always act according to my emotions. “I
wanted to lift the heaviness from my heart and
music is the language of emotion. “To be honest I didn’t feel my heart or blood or
anything. “Even if all my clothes had fallen off I
would not even have felt it and so that’s why I
didn’t care about the scarf.“My heart couldn’t believe that I was voted out.
When they said my name I felt like I had died.
“After the Afghan Star programme, those who
were against me dancing, they didn’t like me
and since then my life has been at risk.”

Setara had been one of just three females among the 2,000 entrants to the show back in
2007. Adored by youngsters nationwide, she
got as far as the last four before her dream
turned to dust. Desperate to become a world famous
pop star, she has instead become a
wanted woman. She had the word “LovePeddler” daubed on
her parents’ door in Hetar and was
forced to move to capital Kabul, but is
still afraid to walk the streets. She was
initially evicted from one house and her
new home is regularly spied on by suspicious neighbours. Setara lives in hiding in fear for her life everyday Under the Taliban it was made a crime
to dance, listen to music or watch TV. But in 2001 the Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan was formed and in 2004, the
restrictions on music and dancing were lifted.
Afghan Star hit TV screens for the first time in
2005 and soon became a huge hit – watched
by 11million Afghans, a third of the population. Setara decided to enter even though women
were heavily frowned upon. She says: “We
had a lot of hardships during the time of the
Taliban, every second was dangerous. We
thought that if the Taliban caught us we would
not be left alive. For many Afghans the idea of
democracy – even if only to choose the
winner of a singing competition – was
totally new. Thousands had rushed to
buy television sets and mobile phones
so they could vote in the show. Despite a Taliban attempt to bring down the
mobile phone network to prevent voting on
Afghan Star, and pressure from conservatives
in the government to axe the programme, it still
continues.UK SUN And this is the same Taliban with whom
Obama wants to make a deal and pay
off with hundreds of millions of US
taxpayer dollars, while offering them a
say in the Afghan government. Maybe
he should ask Setara what she thinks about this?

Wow