On Sunday, Pakistan’s acclaimed rock band, Junoon, performed in Srinigar, the summer capital of the Indian-administered region of Jammu & Kashmir, (J&K). The concert, organized by the NGO, the South Asia Foundation, was “also a part of celebrations held to mark the inauguration of the Kashmir Study Institute at Kashmir University,” reported BBC News. Junoon was the first international group to perform in the conflict-torn Kashmir in the past twenty years. However, the event sparked major controversy when leading Kashmiri militant, Syed Salahuddin, the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, urged the Pakistani government not to allow Junoon to travel to Srinigar. According to the BBC, “He argued that the performance would have a negative impact on the ‘disputed status’ of Kashmir and would send a wrong signal to the international community that ‘Kashmir was an integral part of India.'” An editorial in The News today also reported that the United Jihad Council opposed the performance for similar reasons.
Despite this opposition and the reported death threats on the group members, Junoon performed some of their most famous songs for thousands of their screaming fans on Sunday. Dawn quoted lead singer, Salman Ahmed, who told the crowd during the concert, “This is the 10-year-long tryst with destiny that today Junoon is with you.” Although a few Pakistani singers and musicians visited Kashmir last year, “the Sunday event was the first on a large scale,” noted the AFP.
The concert is significant given the violence and conflict that has plagued Kashmir, which has claimed more than 43,000 lives in the past two decades. Moreover, according to the AFP, such performances have been shelved since the outbreak of an Islamist insurgency in 1989, which greatly affected the region’s entertainment industry, “with the rebels targeting cinemas, liquor shops, video parlors and other sites deemed threatening to Islamic culture.” However, noted The News editorial, “…the message of peace, brotherhood and goodwill that dominates the Sufi tradition, and has been taken up by Junoon, is well-suited to the conflict-hit Valley of Kashmir today.” Junoon, which is well-known for raising awareness on issues ranging from HIV/AIDS to corruption in Pakistan, has already done a great deal to bolster Indo-Pak unity and understanding. Their concert on Sunday, noted the editors, “helped humanize the often faceless people of Kashmir and prove that their will does not necessarily coincide with that of the militants who see violence as the only means to achieve freedom for the territory and its people.” Goodwill measures like these, therefore, [see past posts CHUP has done on film diplomacy], should serve as an example to our countries’ governments, which should work in conjunction with such alternative roads of diplomacy in order to achieve a resolution on this issue. [Images from the AFP]
I think its a great that Junoon has made efforts to create awareness for an ongoing issue in Kashmir. They have great international credibility and as Pakistanis performing on the Indian side of Kashmir, definitely creates a message of progression.
For someone to say that it was delivering a negative message about Pakistan’s stance on the issue is completely outrageous, selfish and simply ignorant. The problem continues unresolved because of those who possess simplistic issues with pride, rather than logic on both sides.
The problem isn’t that simplistic though – the issues of pride and political legitimacy attached to Kashmir have become exceedingly complex over the years, and the conflict has been clouded further by other actors, like insurgents and Islamist groups, which incite further violence and instability. Although I believe alternative tracks of diplomacy (especially by using film, art and music) can help humanize the conflict and make it about the Kashmiri people, I sadly wonder whether we have just reached a stalemate on the issue, and whether we can ever reach a resolution. However, events like this are important in shedding light on what is often a polarized perception of the Kashmir conflict.
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Kalsoom Bibi , aap bhaut acha likhtay ho … May Allah give you more power and energy.
Thank you!
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I met Salman Ahmad at the Ritz Carlton. He was here to promote Aliens in America (a must see!) He’s idealistic and passionate about the cause. The cause being Pakistan and how to promote our nation. But idealism many a times is lost in the corruption, nepotism and greed that has taken over Pakistan.
Personally, I think he should start his own party like IK; call it Tehrik-e-Junoon. I might then buy a CD of the party’s manifesto, given that it is sung in qawwali.
[…] J&K.They were the first international group to perform in the war-torn region in twenty years.https://changinguppakistan.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/pakistani-rock-band-junoon-performs-for-kashmir-t…Press Release – MEMBER OF POPULAR 80&39S BAND – SEEKS TO PRODUCE …MEMBER OF POPULAR 80&39S band – […]
[…] ties between our countries, [see past posts on the release of Khuda Kay Liye in India, and Junoon’s performance in Jammu & Kashmir]. I have been a major proponent of such kinds of citizen diplomacy, and feel they are instrumental […]