Discordant notes: Hindu extremists stop Pakistani band’s event

Singer says some Indian journalists contacted him and apologised for how the band was treated.

NEW DELHI/ LAHORE/ KARACHI:

Dozens of activists of a rightwing Hindu extremist group disrupted a press conference held by a Pakistani band at the Mumbai Press Club on Tuesday, police said.

Carrying saffron flags and chanting ‘Pakistanis go back’ and ‘Vande Mataram’, Shiv Sena activists forced their way into the venue and heckled the members of Mekaal Hasan Band, overturning chairs and refusing to allow the press conference to continue.

Speaking with The Express Tribune, singer Mekaal Hasan said the conference was scheduled to announce a collaboration between musicians from India and Pakistan. “This was not a political press conference, but they politicised it,” Hasan said.

A musical performance by the artists, including Hasan and Ahsan Pappu representing Pakistan and Gino Banks, Sheldon D’Silva and Sharmista Chatterjee representing India, was also scheduled for the event.

Police dispersed the protestors and the entrance to the press club was closed. Mumbai Press Club President Gurbir Singh said that he has approached the home minister, RR Patil and Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Sadanand Date to ensure the deployment of additional policemen at the club.

Singh deplored the party’s actions, saying efforts to improve Indo-Pak relations should be welcomed. Similarly, Hasan reiterated, “Indian musicians are learning about our culture and we should keep calm and focus on the good things we’ll do together.”

He said some Indian journalists have contacted him and apologised for how the band was treated. Hasan said the band would continue to pursue such international collaborations, pointing out that the band’s ‘Sanwal’ and ‘Sajjan’ were regularly performed at talent shows in India, including Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Indian Idol.

“I do not believe that these people have even heard of what we do,” Hasan said. “They have every right to not like our music but they are not the ones who invited us to India and they do not have a right to ask us to leave.”

The band is not disheartened, he said, explaining, “While there are many who do not want us to work together, there are many more who do.”

The Shiva Sena has opposed the participation of Pakistani artistes in events held in India for some time – the party protested the inclusion of television host Begum Nawazish Ali and actor Veena Malik in the television show Bigg Boss in 2010 and disrupted a Sindhi Sufi music festival in Delhi last year as Pakistani artists were included in the show.

While Shiv Sena is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s oldest electoral ally, several in the BJP say it is a mistake to ally with a party that thinks nothing of violating India’s constitution. “I have never shared a stage with Shiv Sena because I am not in agreement with some of the things they do,” BJP senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi confided while speaking with The Express Tribune.  


Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2014.