Gulzar Alam, born on 14 October 1954, at Charsadda

Charsadda

Charsadda is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°8'43N 71°43'51E with an altitude of 276 metres and lies 29 kilometres from the provincial capital - Peshawar....

, is a Pashto singer with a fan base from Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 to Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 and among Pashtoons

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 around the world.

Life and career

Gulzar Alam worked in Pakistan Air force for sometime. He left singing due to bad law and order situation in the region. He was helpless to do so because of the Fundamentalist's rise in the province.

In January 2003 Gulzar was arrested while performing at a private wedding, he was accused of drinking alcohol and rowdy behaviour but was later released, Gulzar said he was "humiliated" by this, however a more serious event took place in April of that year when 27 police officers forced entry to his home and arrested this three sons and a brother. He stopped singing after receiving anonymous letters warning of the consequences of singing in public and started selling property instead, however he eventually fled to Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

.

However following the elections

Pakistani general election, 2008

A general election was held in Pakistan on 18 February 2008, after being postponed from 8 January 2008. The original date was intended to elect members of the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of the Majlis-e-Shoora...

 of February 2008 the secular nationalist Awami National Party

Awami National Party

The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International...

 replaced the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and they not only opened Nashtar Hall for cultural activities but invited Gulzar Alam back to singing. Gulzar Alam accepted the invitation wholeheartedly and started his singing career again. In April 2008 Peshawar

Peshawar

Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....

's Nishtar Hall, the city’s only auditorium for promoting cultural activities, had reopened after five years of closure due to the policies of the previous government - Gulzar was one the artists who performed at the reopening.

Many of his albums can still be found in Pakistani music stores, but the lack of a royalty system keeps him from earning money from their sales. Gulzar again started singing and now performs regularly. Government of Pakistan has anounced Sitara.e.Imtiaz for Him.