Peshawar: A beautiful pop singer who defied the Taliban's decree against music and dancing was shot dead after she left a beauty salon last night.
Pakistani star Ghazala Javed, 24, was shot after a motorcyclist opened fire on a car she was in with her father, who was also killed.
Police said that one of the suspects is her ex-husband, who she reportedly asked for a divorce after finding out he had at least one other wife.
Her demand was a highly unusual one for a deeply conservative and male-dominated society where many consider a woman asking for divorce a dishonour to the husband.
Ms Javed, who was popular with young, progressive ethnic Pashtuns in northwest Pakistan, was reportedly driving home with her father when a motorcycle raced towards their car and opened fire.
She was hit with six bullets and and pronounced dead along with her father at a hospital in Peshawar, according to CNN.
In recent years the rise of the Pakistani Taliban, who disagree with singing and dancing, made it difficult for Ms Javed and other artists to perform and record songs in the country.
Ms Javed had started recording many of her songs and music videos, which she sang in her native Pashto language, in nearby Dubai.But early indications were that the Taliban were not involved in her shocking death, according to police official Imtiaz Altaf.
Last year Ms Javed made headlines when she left her husband to live at her father's home after just six months of marriage.
'Two men on a motorbike sprayed bullets and fled leaving them in a pool of blood,' said senior police officer Dilawar Bangash.
'We have registered a case and launched an investigation. The murder seems to be result of some internal dispute,' he added.
Ms Javed married businessman Jahangir Khan in 2010 after fleeing to Peshawar in 2009 to escape the then Taliban-dominated northwestern district of Swat. He too tried to ban her from singing, her family said.
Several years ago, another popular female singer, Ayman Udas, was killed - allegedly by her family.
