Politics has to burst through when it comes to Kashmir, no matter what the issue or event maybe. Maestro Zubin Mehta’s Bavarian State Orchestra could not be any exception.
The concert, which has been named as Ehsaas-e-Kashmir (the feeling of Kashmir), is being organised by the embassy of Germany in Srinagar’s Mughal Shalimar Gardens on Saturday. Michael Steiner, the German ambassador to India, reiterated on Thursday that the event has nothing to do with politics. “It is a tribute to the people of Kashmir, has nothing to do with politics,” he said. Earlier in a signed statement issued here, Mr. Steiner said, “This concert is for you, the Kashmiris. It is a German cultural event with the best of Europe’s musical tradition brought to you to pay tribute to the rich cultural tradition of Kashmir and its wonderful people.”
But Kashmiri separatists and vast sections of other political and social activists, some civil society groups and the local literati who have stepped up the ante against the concert insist it is a political event being held to subvert the Kashmiris’ “struggle” and their “miseries” and also to seek to divert the attention of the world from the ground realities.
“The concert serves to build on the state narrative that seeks to dilute the reality of Jammu and Kashmir and people’s aspirations.
It seeks to promote an image of a peaceful and normal Jammu and Kashmir. The pain, suffering, courage and bravery of the resistance will find no place in this concert,” said Khuram Parvez, a local human rights activist who is part of a civil society group which will hold a parallel music event Haqeeqat-e-Kashmir (the reality of Kashmir) in Srinagar on the same day.