Here Comes Adnan Sami To Entertain the ‘Frightened’ Denizens

Srinagar—The Jammu and Kashmir Government is all set to hold a musical extravaganza of famous Pakistan-origin Bollywood singer Adnan Sami, on the banks of the picturesque Dal Lake in Srinagar on Saturday.

The 46-year-old Sami, who renounced Pakistani nationality to become an Indian citizen last year, will be performing at the Sher-e- Kashmir International Convention Centre here.

The concert is being organized at a time when the Valley is coping with an unprecedented onslaught on its women by mysterious gang of people who are out on braid chopping spree for last over one month creating fear and forcing people to take to streets seeking protection.

And amid all this chaos the Tourism Department, which remains a liability on state exchequer because of poor tourist arrivals due to turmoil, announced musical concert with much fanfare.

The concert is being supported by the Union Home Ministry and the Jammu and Kashmir government and is aimed at “promoting tourism and Kashmiri culture,” according to an official spokesman.

The event has attracted sharp criticism from the people, who maintained that “when the common people are not safe in their own houses, what is the fun of holding such an event in the Valley.”

“The present government has failed to fulfil all the promises that they have made to the people during the time of election on the account of development, peace, and other things. Now they are adopting such tactics which could divert the attention of masses from the main issues,” noted economist and prominent civil society member of Kashmir Shakeel Qalander told Kashmir Observer.

“Government wants to hide their failures by holding such concerts so that attention of people can be diverted,” he said, adding, “They want entertainment at a time when people are in pain, women folk are being attacked, for me braid cutting is the attack on their modesty,” he said.

He said the economy of the state was at its lowest ebb “due to decisions taken by the government from time to time.”

He said that having a musical concert in the name of boosting the economy at a time when people of the state are not safe and are suffering from distress and anxiety was “laughable.”

Professor Hameeda Nayeem, a member of civil society group Kashmir Centre for Social and Developmental Studies (KCSDS), said, “The government has always worked against the wishes of people. Its job is to give an unreal picture of the world to the people. The concert is aimed to shield their dirty deeds in Kashmir and to show the world that Kashmir is peaceful.”

“These are colonial tactics of the colonial state to divert the world attention from the Kashmir issue, they want to produce the un-real picture of Kashmir to believe the world that situation is hunky-dory here,” she said, adding, “PDP has been doing it from the day first, organizing musical concert is nothing but distraction, to deflect attention from a terrible situation, and they want to lure the people to come in the event by exploiting Pakistani name,”

A tight security umbrella is being put up for the event which is expected to be attended by about 3,000 people including several media personalities of the country, schoolchildren, lawmakers, bureaucrats and officers of various security agencies.

“When people are on roads, demanding their rights from many years, government is all out to crush it with so many things, these musical concerts, braid cutting, and other things are part of the grand strategy to crush our ‘freedom struggle’, I see this in that direction,” said chartered accountant and political Analyst Abdul Majid Zargar.

“If you remember Zubin Mehta concert that was organized on similar lines in the Valley a few years ago. What was the motive behind that? It was simply to show the world that everything is fine in Kashmir and today’s concert of Adnan Sami’s is the copy of that,” he said, adding, “It’s very unfortunate that government is not able to provide security to our womenfolk and on the other hand they are spending lakhs on the security for the concert. It exposes their double standard.”

Director Tourism Mahmood Ahmad Shah when contacted said: “I am a government servant and my job is to execute the plans. I have neither a mandate to answer this question nor have I the capacity to answer this.”

When Kashmir Observer contacted Inspector General of Police, Munir Ahmed Khan, he said, “I can’t comment on the issue, you better talk to the government.”

“On the one hand media is full of negative stories emanating from Valley and here you have a government trying to lure tourists by holding a musical event amid all this chaos”, said journalist Syed Hamid Bukhari.
“They should stop the media trial of Kashmir and Kashmiris first by the national media which is hell-bent on chocking the economy of the state by projecting negative picture of the Valley,” said businessman, Ashiq Ahmad.

“There is absolutely no business. In fact we are more concerned about the safety of our women. This (concert) is deplorable and wastage of public money, they are doing it to please their bosses and are doing it in the name of business that you have crushed by imposing taxes and other policies,” Ashiq said.

In order to prevent entry of ‘undesirable elements’, the Director Tourism and Srinagar’s deputy commissioner have been authorized to jointly issue color-coded passes for one person on the non-transferable basis with acknowledgment entries of the guests besides setting up the joint control room of all concerned departments at the venue ahead of the event. The guests coming from outside Srinagar are being provided boarding and lodging at secured places close to the venue, the officials said.

Doordarshan will cover the concert live for its viewers across the country. “Only accredited journalists will be invited to cover this event,” an official spokesman here said.

London-born Sami is an Indian singer, music composer, pianist and actor. He was born to a Pakistani diplomat and a Kashmiri mother.

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