Signals through music
In Kashmir, the power to close, or bring things to a halt, can frequently be greater than the power to open, release and generate. The former rests on fear.
Shutdown calls are heeded as people who disobey risk being attacked by extremists. This is what we saw Saturday when renowned India-born orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta brought the Bavarian State Orchestra to Srinagar’s Shalimar Bagh, enchanting the audience. But at that very moment the security forces were shooting at fleeing criminals in the heart of the city, and Pulwama and Shopian in South Kashmir saw attempts of terrorist violence where people got killed. These episodes, which drew a swift response from the security forces, could have been timed to coincide with the orchestra programme, if the past behaviour pattern of secessionists is any guide.
In an interview to this newspaper over a year ago, Mr Mehta had expressed the keen desire to perform in Kashmir, but said no one had come forward to organise an event. He thinks music is a “harbinger of peace”. He is right. But there is much politics regarding Kashmir. If the German government, through its ambassador in New Delhi, agreed to sponsor
Mr Mehta’s event, the inference could well be that it now regards Kashmir as a normal place. Equally, it could have calculated that a musical event would draw a violent response from separatists, and attract worldwide attention. This fits with the EU’s expedient notion of “self-determination”. A careful balance must be struck in organising such events.
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