Jamshed was among 47 people who died in a plane crash on Wednesday

Junaid Jamshed: Pakistan's pop icon turned preacher By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad The story of Junaid Jamshed's publi...

Junaid Jamshed: Pakistan's pop icon turned preacher

By M Ilyas KhanBBC News, Islamabad

The story of Junaid Jamshed's public life begins with one air crash and ends with another.

The August 1988 air crash in Bahawalpur that killed Pakistan's military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq was widely hailed in Pakistan as the end of an era when religious obscurantism reigned supreme.

Though the roots of obscurantism turned out to be deeper than many had thought, Zia's death did spark a brief era of intellectual liberation which encouraged the performing arts to come out from their underground existence.

The group Vital Signs, of which Junaid Jamshed was lead singer, released their first album in 1989 and the band remain one of the most recognisable symbols of that era.

But when Jamshed died on Wednesday, aged 52, he had transformed into a religious icon who shunned music and Western clothing, and used his cult to preach Islam worldwide.

Some say that Jamshed had sought the limelight, and when his music stopped inspiring people, he donned the garb of a star preacher.

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