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No Terrorists at the Top of the Pops

Pakistani pop ballad deeper than it sounds, Salon 's Leonard says

By Heather McPherson, Newser User

Posted Aug 15, 2007 6:41 PM CDT

(Newser) – A certain Pakistani pop song would be piffle if it were a love song, but it's not: it's an anti-terrorist ballad, an emblem of a “society-wide identity crisis,” and as such it has meaning, writes Salon’s Andrew Leonard. Eight pop idols recorded the “We Are the World”-style ballad, and it’s become a major hit.

Brainchild of a British Muslim, the tune proclaims, “This story that is being spread in our names is a lie/The name by which you know us—we are not that.” Not only a “welcome counterpoint” to images of the Red Mosque siege, it's also a “heart-rending” expression of social pain.

[Images (2)]

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A Pakistani shopkeeper Rehmat Ullah (C) (Getty Images)

Pakistani religious students burn CDs and DVDs outside The Lal... (Getty Images)

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Yeh Hum Naheen - English subtitles - We are not that (Muslimah876 (YouTube))

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No Terrorists at the Top of the Pops