2 min readSrinagarSep 8, 2013 01:44 AM IST
First published on: Sep 8, 2013 at 01:44 AM IST
From Shalimar Gardens to the Municipal Park nearby,which was holding a concert parallel to Zubin Mehtas,it was expected to be a Saturday of intense music in Srinagar. The cadence,however,was punctuated by bullets and blasts.
Even before Mehta arrived,the mood been overshadowed by the deaths in Shopian. Even during the concert,police fired at a car in Srinagar,wounding a civilian,while a grenade lobbed at police in Pulwama injured 12.
Saturday began with a complete shutdown and restrictions on civilian movement. The roads leading to the Municipal Park the venue for the parallel,Haqeeqat-e-Kashmir Reality of Kashmir concert were barricaded and till 4 pm,no one was being allowed to get in. This was despite the official permission to the concert,with certain riders such as it would start simultaneously with Mehtas concert. A few hundred people managed to reach the venue even before the restrictions were put in place.
The Haqeeqat-e-Kashmir concert began at 4.30 pm with a tribute to those killed in the Shopian violence. Dr Altaf Ahmad,a civil society activist,called it a tribute to all the martyrs who have laid down their lives for the political emancipation of this land. Around 800 people eventually assembled at the park.
During the concert,police fired at a car injuring a civilian barely few hundred metres away. The car was involved in an accident with a government car and sped away, said a traffic cop at Lal Chowk.
Among those who came was Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,Syed Ali Shah Geelanis three close aides and Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar.
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