Bad Feelings For Kashmir

The concert, titled Feelings for Kashmir, was a joint presentation of the Indian and German governments and the first concert of its type to ever take place in the region.

Michael Steiner, the German ambassador to India, said, “This concert is for the people of Kashmir. Beethoven, Haydn and Tchaikovsky played by a world acclaimed maestro and one of the best orchestras of the world in one of the most enchanting places in the world.”

Activists opposing the concert said they have nothing against the orchestra or the conductor, who was born in Mumbai, but nevertheless believe the Indian authorities used the event to “claim that the situation in the disputed area is normal,” according to the Independent newspaper.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir over the past 25 years in clashes between separatists backed by Pakistan and the Indian military.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who heads an organization calling for Kashimiri independence, told the paper the region “is under occupation” and that with the music program “India, with the help of the German government, is trying to say the situation should be forgotten.”

Opposing parties organized their own alternative music event called The Truth About Kashmir, and wrote a letter to the German Embassy saying that art, in this instance, was being used as propaganda.

The minister of Kashmir dismissed the opposition, saying that their leadership was “weak” if they thought a concert would damage the cause of independence.