In heart of Pakistan, K-Pop becomes a cultural juggernaut

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Updated 16 February 2023
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In heart of Pakistan, K-Pop becomes a cultural juggernaut

  • Multiple K-Pop dance and karaoke events, birthdays of favorite stars and street performances are organized in Lahore each year
  • Pakistani fans say K-Pop bands are not just music stars but “deep sources” of inspiration and attachment for followers

LAHORE: For a country whose global reputation used to be defined by cars and cell phones, South Korea is now leading a global cultural revolution, with the dystopian drama “Squid Game,” award-winning films such as “Parasite” and K-Pop stars like BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, appearing as ubiquitous as any Samsung smartphone — even in a South Asian city like Lahore.

Welcome to the scenes of a burgeoning K-Pop revolution in the heart of Pakistan, complete with groups of young people, choreographed dances, street performances, karaoke parties, nicknames, fan armies and trending hashtags.

Last year, Spotify statistics showed the 18-24 age group in Pakistan was over 50 percent more likely to be listening to K-Pop than any other genre of music. The BTS Yet to Come concert was released to packed cinemas in Pakistan this year and last year, a dozen K-Pop events were held in Lahore, each attracting crowds of up to 500 people. Multiple street dance performances are regularly arranged and music videos and documentaries shot with money young fans say they are spending from their own pockets. 

No doubt, Lahore is becoming Pakistan’s most important cog in the Korean popular culture machine, thanks to super fans like Leneha Junsu and Nayab Husnain and groups like Dynamite Crew, Pakistan’s first public dance cover performers.




The picture shows group members of Pakistan's first public K-pop group coverist, Dynamite Crew. (Dynamite Crew/Facebook)

And the love isn’t one sided. Last year the K-Pop band Blitzers shot parts of their music video, ‘Hit The Bass’ in Lahore, while Islamabad’s Sophia Mujahid, perhaps the most well-known K-Pop performer in Pakistan, was invited to tour South Korea by the Korean embassy in Islamabad after winning the K-Pop World Festival twice in 2016 and 2017. Last year, she was invited to the event as a judge, when the dance category was won by Lahore’s Dynamite Crew.

“It was like nothing I had heard or seen before,” super-fan Leneha told Arab News, describing how she “fell in love” with K-Pop in 2010, after which she started meeting other fans through Facebook groups.

By 2016, she was organizing fan meet-ups and other events throughout the city and now does so under the banner of KCon.




Founder of KCon, Leneha Junsu, is seen speaking during a karaoke event in Lahore, Pakistan, on February 4, 2023. (KCon/Facebook)

“Back in 2011, when I was 21, I was working for en.korea.com, which was a website for English K-Pop news, with the aim of bringing their brand of music to a bigger audience,” Leneha said. “I was doing that until 2014. I was also an administrator to a few international K-Pop boy groups. I have done a few projects with the South Korean Embassy.”

Leneha has a dedicated group of collaborators who work with her to promote K-Pop in Pakistan:

“When we started promoting K-Pop people weren’t that aware [of it]. We even went to 8XM [the music channel] and they played BTS and other K-Pop groups on our request.”




A billboard wishing Jungkook from BTS a happy birthday was spotted in Gujranwala, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy: Social media)

Iman Afroze, one of Leneha’s collaborators, is making a documentary on the BTS Army called “The Journey of Pak Army,” army being what fans of K-Pop groups call themselves around the world. And just like other BTS armies globally, the Pakistani groups too engage in social work and community engagement, with tens of thousands of social media accounts trending BTS Army on social media in Pakistan whenever it is an idol’s birthday, or a star is engaged in a charity or social work initiative.

Leneha and Afroze are currently working on a project translating a BTS documentary in Urdu, called @urdu.bangtan on Instagram.

Started four years ago, Leneha’s KCon events attract hundreds of people and include Korean word guessing games, karaoke and trivia about Korean music and television stars. People who attend the gigs come having learnt the dances, the lyrics, and even the language.

Another popular event is Nayab Husnain’s K’Festa, which has been held thrice and is arguably the single largest K-Pop gathering in Pakistan. Husnain was only 19 when she organized the first event over a year ago, becoming a K-Pop fan after watching interviews of BTS:

“They love their fans, their first priority is to spread messages like ‘love yourself,’ and when I read the lyrics of the songs, they were saying things like ‘I’m learning how to love myself’. That was very inspiring.”

BTS songs send out messages of hope, self-worth and resilience, Husnain said, which resonated with young Pakistanis who followed them.

“That’s when I talked with my friends and decided to do a community-based event in 2021,” the organizer said, using her 70,000 TikTok and 14,000 Instagram followers to get the message out.

Before shifting to organizing K-Pop events, Nayab was mostly focused on doing Korean-inspired make-up tutorials on her social media pages, with many of her young followers saying it was the sense of style and fashion K-Pop groups exude that had them hooked.

And no one in Pakistan encompasses that sense of style better than dance cover group Dynamite Crew, who have performed at KCon and K’Festa events, danced at Korean embassy functions and now even taken their talent to the streets.

The group was started in 2020 by Kazim Raza, 20, and Joy Azeem, 21.

“We found each other on Instagram back in 2019 because we were both making dance covers, we decided to collaborate,” Azeem said.

Raza subsequently started looking for dancers in Lahore and just two years after their first performance, the group won the K-Pop Pakistan Festival’s dance category in 2022.

Raza, the de-facto leader of Dynamite Crew, said the group only had eight permanent members but held auditions when they needed more dancers.

Azeem’s introduction to K-Pop was BTS’s Blood, Sweat and Tears: “I was very impressed with the visuals, and that they danced so professionally, even performed their own stunts, and I wanted to be just like that. I learned it was possible to be that multi-talented.”

Other than BTS’ choreography, Azeem was also enthralled with the band’s fashion, styling, makeup, outfits and music. Though she has covered extremely popular girl groups like Blackpink, her favorite group remains BTS.

Indeed, for many Pakistani fans, the appeal of K-Pop is not just in the music. Bands like BTS are not just singing and dancing sensations but a “source of deep inspiration and attachment” for followers.

“I got more into K-Pop when I was going through depression, I used to listen to BTS mostly, their lyrics were very relatable,” a fan called Yuna, who identified herself only by her first name, said.

“They came to me, I didn’t go to them,” she added, explaining the lure of the band’s lyrics and “messages of community, togetherness and social work.”

“I suddenly felt I wasn’t all alone in the world anymore,” Yuna said. “I forgot all my worries, I entered this fantasy world where I forgot all the bad things that had happened to me.”


Indian-administered Kashmir crackdown sparks anger as Pakistan tensions escalate

Updated 5 sec ago
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Indian-administered Kashmir crackdown sparks anger as Pakistan tensions escalate

  • New Delhi has accused Pakistan of supporting ‘cross-border terrorism’ after gunmen killed 26 people in Kashmir on Apr. 22
  • Islamabad has denied any role and called attempts to link Pakistan to the attack ‘frivolous,’ vowing to respond to Indian action

SRINAGAR: Anger in Indian-administered Kashmir escalated on Monday over sweeping detentions in the hunt for the gunmen who carried out a deadly attack last week that New Delhi blames on arch-rival Pakistan.
New Delhi has accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” after gunmen killed 26 people on April 22, the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir for a quarter of a century.
Islamabad has denied any role, calling attempts to link Pakistan to the attack “frivolous” and vowing to respond to Indian action.
Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have plunged to their lowest level in years, sparking worries by analysts of possible military action.
The attack also sparked a huge manhunt for the gunmen in Kashmir, with Indian security forces blowing up nine homes of suspected rebels, as well as detaining nearly 2,000 people for questioning, a senior police official told AFP.
“Punish the guilty, show them no mercy, but don’t let innocent people become collateral damage,” Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a statement.
Aga Ruhullah, a federal lawmaker from Kashmir, said: “Kashmir and Kashmiris are being given a collective punishment.”
Security operations in the search for the gunmen come as India and Pakistani forces have exchanged fire across the de facto border in the rugged and remote high-altitude Himalayan outposts.
India’s army said on Monday its troops and Pakistani forces had fired at each other for a fourth night in a row.
There were no reported casualties. Islamabad did not immediately confirm the gunfire from Pakistan.
“During the night of April 27-28... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control,” the Indian army said in a statement, referring to the de facto border in contested Kashmir.
“Indian troops responded swiftly and effectively,” it said.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.
Both claim the territory in full.
Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest.
India is also hunting several of its own citizens in connection to the killings, sweeping up those they suspect may have information on the attackers.
“It’s a revolving door in police stations as part of the ongoing investigation,” said a senior police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
“Some have already been let go, and more are being summoned to police stations,” the officer said.
The homes of men suspected of having links to the attackers have also been blown up at night.
Yasmeena, the sister of fugitive accused Ashif Sheikh, said her family was being punished, with their home demolished even though they had not seen her brother for three years.
“If my brother is involved, how is it the family’s sin?” she said.
“This house doesn’t belong to him alone.”
New Delhi has downgraded diplomatic ties since the attack, withdrawn visas for Pakistanis, suspended a water-sharing treaty, and announced the closure of the main land border crossing with Pakistan.
In response, Islamabad ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers, canceled visas for Indian nationals and barred its airspace to Indian airplanes.
India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday after warning last week that those responsible for the attack in Kashmir would see a response “loud and clear.”
The United Nations has urged the arch-rivals to show “maximum restraint” so that issues can be “resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement.”
China, which shares a border with both India and Pakistan, urged both sides on Monday to “exercise restraint, meet each other halfway” and “properly handle relevant differences through dialogue,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
Iran has already offered to mediate, and Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation.”


Pakistan university, COMSTECH ink MoU for scholarships of Palestinian students

Updated 28 April 2025
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Pakistan university, COMSTECH ink MoU for scholarships of Palestinian students

  • Abbottabad University of Science and Technology will offer 40 scholarships to Palestinian students in various undergraduate programs
  • Program aims to support Palestinian students by covering their tuition and hostel fees, and provide them stipends, says state media

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani university has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) to provide scholarships to Palestinian students, state media reported on Monday.

The initiative is part of the “COMSTECH Scholarships and Research Fellowships for Palestinian Nationals” program, which aims to support Palestinian students by covering their tuition and hostel fees. The program also provides them monthly stipends, enabling Palestinian students to pursue higher education in Pakistan. 

“The OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) and Abbottabad University of Science and Technology (AUST) on Sunday signed a MoU to offer scholarships to Palestinian students for the academic year 2025-2026,” the APP said. 

As per the MoU, the Pakistani university would provide tuition to Palestinian students through both online and on-campus learning modes, APP said. 

“The UST Abbottabad will offer 40 scholarships in various undergraduate programs including Doctor of Physiotherapy, Doctor of Pharmacy, BS Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT), BS Microbiology, BS Food Sciences, BS Computer Science and BS Software Engineering,” the report said.

Last year, Pakistan’s University of Lahore offered 5,000 free scholarships, fellowships and short training programs for Palestinian students in collaboration with COMSTECH.

Pakistan has actively tried to help Palestinian students secure higher education in the country after Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has killed over 52,000 Palestinians since Oct, 7, 2023, in the densely populated enclave. 

Over 300 Palestinian students were enrolled in Pakistani universities in 2024 while more than 50,000 Palestinian nationals have graduated from educational institutions in Pakistan over the years.


Seven killed in blast at pro-government peace committee’s offices in northwestern Pakistan

Updated 57 min 51 sec ago
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Seven killed in blast at pro-government peace committee’s offices in northwestern Pakistan

  • No group has claimed responsibility for blast but suspicion is likely to fall on Pakistani Taliban militants
  • Such peace committees often comprise local tribal elders who publicly oppose Pakistani Taliban group

PESHAWAR: Seven people were killed and over a dozen injured on Monday when a blast targeted the offices of a pro-government peace committee in Pakistan’s northwest, police said, as rescue teams attempted to reach those trapped under the rubble.

The blast took place in Wana, a city in South Waziristan district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan, and hit the offices of a government-backed peace committee on Monday afternoon, killing seven and injuring at least 16, South Waziristan police spokesperson Habib Islam told Arab News. 

Such committees often comprise local tribal leaders who publicly oppose the Pakistani Taliban militants, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group that has claimed responsibility for some of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan. While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, suspicion is likely to fall on the TTP.

“Details into the casualties are still coming because two offices of the peace committee commander Saifur Rehman collapsed due to the intensity of the blast,” Islam told Arab News. “A number of people are trapped under the rubble.”

He said it was as yet unclear if this was a suicide attack or the explosion was triggered by a remote-controlled device.

Tribal elder Almir Khan Wazir said two commanders of the peace committee, Rehman and Tehsil Wazir, were in critical condition. 

“They were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital in critical condition,” Wazir said.

The blast took place as Pakistan’s military said 71 militants had been killed in a number of armed operations in the nearby North Waziristan district in the last three days. 

Pakistan blames the Taliban government in Afghanistan for providing sanctuary to TTP militants, threatening cross-border action unless Kabul withdraws its support for militant groups. Afghanistan denies the allegations and has urged Pakistan to resolve its security challenges internally.


Pakistan army says 71 militants killed in three days of operations in northwest

Updated 28 April 2025
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Pakistan army says 71 militants killed in three days of operations in northwest

  • The 71 deaths reported are an usually high number in Pakistan’s battle against militancy along its border with Afghanistan
  • Latest operations highlight the challenges Pakistani forces face on multiple fronts as tensions with India also rise rapidly

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan army said on Monday 71 militants had been killed in three days of armed operations in the country’s northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan where the military has been battling a surge in militancy.

On Sunday, the army said it had killed 54 militants trying to infiltrate the country from Afghanistan, highlighting the challenges its forces face on multiple fronts as tensions with India also rise rapidly.

In a fresh statement on Monday, the army said it had carried out a “sanitization operation” in the North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the night of Apr. 27-28 following Sunday’s campaigns. 

“During the conduct of the operation, seventeen more khwarij [militants] who were operating on behest of their foreign masters were hunted down and successfully neutralized,” the army said in a statement.

“The number of khwarij killed in three days operation has risen to seventy one.”

The 71 deaths reported are an usually high number in Pakistan’s battle against militancy and instability along its border with Afghanistan during the nearly four years since the United States withdrew its military support from the country and the Taliban took over Kabul.

The banned group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, has intensified attacks on Pakistani security forces, straining ties between Pakistan’s leaders and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring and supporting TTP fighters, an allegation they deny.

Pakistan is also facing an intensifying separatist insurgency in the southwestern Balochistan province. The possibility of conventional skirmishes with nuclear-armed neighbor India to the east have also risen since last week when 26 tourists were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Delhi has blamed Islamabad, which has denied involvement. 

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region is claimed by both the nuclear states, and has been the site of multiple wars, insurgencies and diplomatic standoffs.


India bans Pakistani channels in social media crackdown

Updated 28 April 2025
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India bans Pakistani channels in social media crackdown

  • Banned platforms include YouTube channels of Pakistani news outlets Dawn, Samaa TV, ARY News, Raftar and Geo News
  • India has accused Pakistan of being involved in attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on Apr. 22 which Islamabad denies

NEW DELHI: India launched a sweeping crackdown on social media on Monday, banning more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content following an attack in Kashmir.

The banned platforms include the YouTube channels of Pakistani news outlets Dawn, Samaa TV, ARY News, Bol News, Raftar, Geo News and Suno News.

The sites were blocked in India on Monday, with a message reading it was due to an “order from the government related to national security or public order.”

The Press Trust of India news agency, which listed 16 channels, cited a government statement saying they were blocked for “disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India.”

The ban follows the deadly April 22 shooting that targeted tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. Twenty-six men were killed in the attack, the worst on civilians in the contested region for a quarter of a century.

India has accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” but Islamabad has denied any role in the attack.

The information ministry also issued an advisory notice on Saturday calling on journalists and social media users to “exercise utmost responsibility” while reporting on matters “concerning defense and other security related operations.”

The advisory note, which cited previous cases of conflict with Pakistan including fighting in 1999 at Kargil, warned that “premature disclosure of sensitive information may inadvertently assist hostile elements and endanger operational effectiveness.”

Indian social media accounts have also been awash with comments on the killings at Pahalgam, with hashtags including #WarWithPakistan and #FinishPakistan trending on social media platform X.