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| Hardliners launch tirade against Zubin Mehta's concert | | | Majid Ahmad
SRINAGAR, Aug 28: After opposing all girls rock band earlier this year, separatists have launched a tirade against the proposed musical concert by celebrated conductor Zubin Mehta in Srinagar on September 7.
The concert by Mumbai-born Mehta is being organised by the Tourism Department and the German Embassy in New Delhi. The works of Beethoven, Hayden and Tchaikovsky will be performed by the Bavarian State Orchestra from Munich, one of the well-known orchestras of the world.
The German Ambassador in India Michael Steiner had on August 22 revealed that Zubin Mehta will hold musical concert at historic Shalimar garden on banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar on September 7. "The event will be held without any trouble as Jammu and Kashmir Government has assured fool proof security for the event," he had said.
First it was hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani who on Sunday opposed holding the concert in Srinagar claiming it will "legitimise state repression."
Next day moderate Hurriyat joined the bandwagon with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq suggesting that the money for the concert would be better spent on a "Kashmir-German friendship hospital."
Kashmir's Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-Din, who was recently caught on wrong foot for issuing a decree against music and then attending a musical concert, asked the German embassy to reconsider their plan of organizing a musical concert in Srinagar next month.
The Grand Mufti shot to prominence earlier this year when he issued a decree against an all-girls music band that led to the trio disbanding their band. However, in July this year he was himself seen enjoying a musical programme in a houseboat on the scenic Dal lake.
A good number of people in Valley have rejected the call of separatists and hardliners saying holding the event would showcase the talent of Kashmir and will also project Valley as a safe tourist destination.
"Opposing the event would send a negative image about Kashmir and the need of hour is that Kashmiris should be globally seen as people who are peace loving and welcome their guests," a university student told Early Times.
"Why normalcy is a dirty word for separatists? For some vested interests in Kashmir, normalcy means politicisation of the peace in the state. They see it as a motivated attempt to advertise the end to the Valley's troubles. And the concert, the first such event being held in Valley is playing into these suspicions," he said.
An hotelier on the banks of Dal Lake said it is unfortunate that people who are opposing the concert have no worries about the future of Kashmiris. "For the Grand Mufti of Kashmir, music is 'un-Islamic' and a 'vice' that should be forbidden for everyone. Everyone except him, of course! He issued a fatwa against an all-girls rock band. But he has no qualms enjoying music himself. This is sheer hypocrisy," he said.
National Conference additional general secretary Dr Mustafa Kamaal while defending the concert said that the Hurriyat Conference was making an issue out of nothing to instigate public emotions against the event, which has been organised just to boost the tourism industry.
In September 2011 Harud (meaning autumn in Kashmiri) international literary festival that was set to be held in Srinagar had been cancelled owing to concerns about possible violence during the festival due to protest call by the hardliners at the venue.
That time also extremist elements had started an online campaign to boycott the event and had threatened to spill over the violence onto the streets. |
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