“Even policemen outside the venue said they would have loved to be part of the audience if their officer wasn’t around”
Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR: Emotions ran high at the parallel event against Zubin Mehta’s concert organised by civil society groups in Kashmir.
Titled “Haqeeqat-e-Kashmir”, it was aimed at depicting the ground reality of the region, which activists said Mehta’s “Ehsaas-e-Kashmir” or Feelings of Kashmir was trying to obfuscate.
Hundreds of people managed to reach the venue despite transport problems due to a shutdown called by senior separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Many came by their own vehicles, others by foot. But all of them seemed to be driven by a motive.
“I came here to tell Mehta (Zubin) that these things (the concert) are not done. We are an oppressed nation, and you come here to do this,” said Mushtaq Ahmed who said he was a poet.
Charged Audience
Inside the Sher-i-Kashmir Park or Municipal Park, the organisers had laid posters, photographs and artwork on the ground: pictures of those who were forced into disappearance and those who were raped – allegedly by security forces.
There were also old, black-and-white photos of crackdowns and dead bodies; One which caught the eye of many was a mother walking over four dead bodies, perhaps looking for her own son or daughter.
And there were quotations against Zubin Mehta’s concert and in support of the parallel event: “Will they sing in the dark times, yes there will also be singing about the dark times,” read one.
Interestingly, expecting the huge presence of foreign media, the organisers had printed banners with revolutionary quotations written in French, Chinese and also Arabic.
Poetry recitations and rap singing were accompanied by loud claps and occassional but charged pro-freedom slogans. When a skit, depicting the “tyranny of India”, was being performed, the audience watched in silence and finally burst in cheer.
So emotionally high was the atmosphere that a few policemen on duty outside the venue told this reporter that they would have loved to be part of the audience “if our officer wasn’t around”.
‘The Moment’
Rapper ‘Kayemmar’ – his original name is Saif – a ninth class student, said he performed his own composition “to create awareness about what is happening here.”
“Kashmir is a disputed territory, an occupied territory and no one can just come and enjoy,” he said.
“How can they (Zubin and team) do it when people are dying here, tortured, many are in jails, how can they say peace has been restored.”
The Germany-sponsored concert where Mehta performed was a first in the valley. But for many others the parallel event was also a first and “more significant” show vis a vis the resistance movement.
“This is the moment to cherish,” said Saqib Nabi, a fine artist. “Now there will be many more such shows and it will only help our fight for freedom, make it strong.”
