Prof Javed Mughal
I mused hundred times over whether I should strike my fingers on the key-board of my Lap-top to drop a few lines of my view-point on the recent insignificant controversy raised by some unimportant groups in the valley and immature stance of the government over the musical concert of Zubin Mehta and the team of Ehsaas-e-Kashmir and ultimately I decided to put forward my comments. It is very nice to respect music and to promote music. We all must come forward to accept this fact that the music is the food of soul as well as the part of our culture and hence it must be boosted and so far as Kashmir is concerned, this piece of epoch-making land has been the abode of various genres of music from the very olden times and has produced countless singers especially in folk and sufiana domains. Every morning in Kashmir, blended with the soothing breezes, reverberates with the delectable music of religious hymns and divine songs. It off-course adds a lot to the historical and cultural beauty of the Valley.
If we have a deep insight into the depth of reality, we shall surely find even Masjids and shrines to be the hubs of divine music. So Kashmir and the music are inextricably connected with each other. The one can’t exist without the other. I have come across many cultural or musical events organized on the soil of Kashmir, mostly around Dal Lake being attended by the people quite happily. Many such stage-shows were held on the banks of ravished Dal Lake. From welcoming ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh to performances where our young boys and girls danced to the Junoon tune (first international pop band to visit Kashmir in 2008), to flourishingly rocking bands in Kashmir that are mostly sponsored by state agencies, the musical events have been going on.
Facing a few hiccups, the ‘entertainment industry’ has managed to stay alive with the patronage of many among us as well as those at the helm of affairs. But to the best of my understanding, now was not the right time to invite such controversies by organizing the musical concerts in Kashmir at a time when India is facing fresh threats from Pakistan and China. It is time to lay our heads together to rebut some evil from across the Pak-Sino boarders. Keeping in view the precarious situation being created by Pakistan on one hand and China on the other, we are not in a position to get enraptured and enravished in the soothing musical evenings. This is the moment for us all to contemplate on the issue of national security and a bunch of other problems of instant importance. How can we dance to the tunes of guitar and flute when the enemy is knocking at our door and our Jawans are being ambushed and pained on the boarders? This is the height of irresponsibility. We can’t afford the civil disturbance, may it be on the land of Kashmir which is already smoldering the pyre of many problems. There is one thing granted that a small ill-bred and misdirected group is all time active and the major chunk of Kashmiris is not interested in all this suicidal mess but the fact remains that this majority of the masses has taken a permanent lying down to the dictates of this separatist hardliners. The anti-people group of separatists has, undoubtedly, set up a parallel government in Kashmir which can’t be disbanded by the state or the country as a whole unless some permanent solution to this deadlock is discovered.
The demand of the time is restore the confidence of Kashmiris. They want to live a comfortable life. They want peace and security on their soil but their voice for freedom from all fear and fret stands choked and pent up in them and is the most likely to remain so unless the common masses of the valley get total back-up and moral support from the government but the tragedy is that even the government is not much concerned about the wishes and suppressed aspirations of the people. As per the statement of the government, the music is the part of Kashmiri Culture and it should be promoted as much as possible. The common Kashmiri must come forward to allow and encourage such concerts on the land of Kashmir. But the point to be seriously considered is as to why all such mega concerts are meant for the VIPs only. Why are the common people of Kashmir, who have really suffered during the last two decades, are kept aloof from such musical ventures? Are they not the part of Kashmir? Don’t they deserve to be the part the listener-gatherings? Such programs should, on the contrary, be intrusmentalised to win the good will of the public, to lighten their mood, to sooth their broken-hearts and ultimately to revive the atmosphere of peace and harmony among the masses.
Instead of installing barricades and barriers on the roads, frisking and searching the innocent masses, the government should have tried to convince the masses and won their trust and then organized such concerts. Had it happened, the Kashmiris might themselves have been active in making this concert a major success. This programme was basically meant for a selected few. This will indeed strengthen the popular aberration against the political system more and more discouraging all chances to restore peace in Kashmir. Such events, if organized with the cooperation of the people, will not only dwindle the tension in Kashmir paving a way for rehabilitating the lost glory of the paradise on earth but will also render a great setback to the nefarious designs of the subversive forces operating in the valley. Such events must not be allowed to plague the comfortable life of the masses. It is futile to say that the common Kashmiri does not support such rich cultural bonanzas.
The fact is that the common Kashmiri actually wants to get rid of all this nuisance prevailing there for the last over decade and he wants back his identity as a respectable citizen but if he needs due respect and recognition from the system which he is not getting perhaps. We need to revise and review our approach towards them and set the things right. All such events organized by the Government must be open to one and all of Kashmiris so that the common person of Kashmir can have a chance to dislodge an inborn mistrust in the governing mechanism. Such immature bahaviour of our government will off-course not work positively for the rehabilitation of the normalcy in the state. But one thing my Kashmiri brethren must bear in mind is that much we have lost without gaining anything at all. We have damaged our economy; we have lagged behind in education and suffered politically too. Now is the time to come on the track and regain the paradise lost.
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