Govt urged to ensure security of artists.

PESHAWAR -- The Hunari Tolana Welfare Society here on Sunday asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to ensure security of folk singers and musicians and stop their illegal detention in cases of firing in the air during wedding ceremonies and musical concerts.

'The practice of keeping artists and musicians in illegal detention is rampant in the province. The artists have no other option, but to pay money for their release,' said a statement issued here by the society.

The artists warned that if notice was not taken by the concerned authorities, they would stage a protest in front of the Peshawar Press Club.

'Instead of taking action against the culprits, the police on duty take artists and folk singers in their custody and release them after payment of money,' it said.

In the statement, folk singer and chief of Hunari Tolana Welfare Society, Peshawar, Rashid Khan asked the high-ups of police department to take notice of illegal detention of innocent artists and musicians in Charasadda district and elsewhere during the incidents of firing in the air.

It said that most often the police arrested the artists and musicians and...