RIYADH, Sept 24: An officer of the Saudi religious police (Mutawwa) barged into a hall in Jeddah, where the Junoon Group from Pakistan was performing on Friday night, grabbed by collar one amateur performer playing the guitar on the stage and then dragged him to a car.

The performance, the first of its kind in the city, was being held under the auspices of the Pakistani Consulate and had the required permission from the local governorate.

The Pakistani consul-general, other senior officers from the consulate and members of their families were among about 2,000 Pakistanis in the hall when the incident occurred.

The Junoon group had especially come to Jeddah for the performance. The artistes included Ali Azmat, Saleem Jawed and Imran Sajan. Eminent Saudi poet Umar Salem Al-Duroos was also there to recite his verses. The Junoon group presented special songs underlining the strong bonds of friendship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

The organizers had obtained a written permission from the Makkah Governorate for the folk song and music programme. The Saudi Civil Defence had deployed its personnel, as is required by local regulations for all big public events, to avert any untoward incident.

The programme was held to commemorate the national day of Saudi Arabia. A large number of Saudi families were also enjoying the programme, when the Mutawwa entered the hall, pushing aside security guards. A Jeddah-based Pakistani artiste, Asif, was playing the guitar at that time when the religious police officer went to him and dragged him to his car.

When the organizers told the officer that they had permission from the local authorities to hold the programme, he asked for the permission letter. When the letter was shown to him, according to Pakistani diplomatic sources, he commented: "How come the ameer gave permission for something which is 'munkar' (not allowed)."

He was told that there were families in the hall and women were properly dressed, and that the programme was held to celebrate the Saudi national day. He then asked the organizers to arrange a separate area for women.

The organizers told him that it was not practical because families were sitting together and it was not possible to ask women to sit separately from their men and children. After speaking to some senior people in the hierarchy of his organization, the officer relented and allowed Asif to return to the hall.

The programme finally continued till the early hours of Friday. It is learnt that the authorities are carrying out an investigation to find out under what authority the official had entered the premises.