Indo-Pak relations have always been a sensorial issue and fundamentalists from both nations have often escalated the tension through their remarks and actions.
Border tensions, ceasefire violations and terror attacks have often resulted in desolate cultural ties between the two nations.
There are a number of instances when cultural collaborations between the countries have been thwarted due to the killings of soldiers at the border.
Shiv Sena party workers damaged the pitch of the Ferozshah Kotla stadium in 1999 ahead of the Indo-Pak cricket match to protest against Pakistani players playing in India.
A similar incident was repeated in 2006, when Shiv Sena threatened to protest against the ICC Champions Trophy in the backdrop of Mumbai serial train blasts.
According to reports in the media in August 2015, former Pakistani ace cricketer Shoaib Akhtar said that the proposed Indo-Pak bilateral series later this year cannot be played when there is tension between the two nations.
In the first season of Pro-Kabbadi league in 2014, Pakistani players were not allowed to play the matches owing to security concerns after warnings from Shiv Sena for not allowing them to play the sport on Indian soil.
Not just sports, even entertainment has suffered due to rough patch in Indo-Pak ties. In the year 2010, the organisers of Bigg Boss were given a warning to eliminate Pakistani contestants Veena Malik and Ali Saleem from the show.
After 26/11, many Pakistani artists had to bid adieu to the Indian television. Comedy artists like Shaqeel Siddiqui and Kashif had to leave India and go back to Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attack.
There was an outrage in 2012, when legendary singer, Asha Bhonsle was scheduled to share the stage with Pakistani singers for a reality show ‘Sur Kshetra’ on Indian television.
Couple of Bollywood films have also faced the flak of severed ties. Recently, Saif Ali Khan and Katrina starrer Phantom-a film based on 26/11 and its mastermind Hafiz Saeed was banned in Pakistan after Hafiz Saeed filed a petition alleging that the film contains false propaganda against him. Akshay Kumar starrer Baby was also banned by the censor board in Pakistan.
In April last year, noted Pakistani singer Atif Aslam’s concert in Maharashtra was cancelled after Shiv Sena issued threats to disrupt the event.
Latest addition in the list is the cancellation of legendary Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali’s concert which was scheduled for October 9 in Shanmughananda Hall, Mumbai. The event had to be cancelled following strong protests from Shiv Sena. The party in its mouthpiece criticised the event saying India cannot build cultural ties with Pakistan when they are killing our soldiers at the border.
Indo-Pak ties have never been a hunky-dory affair and the rocky ties have not just affected the bilateral talks between but have also afflicted the efforts to build cultural harmony between the two nations. But what is important to remember here is that using religion and geography as filters for art will not improve the ties in anyway, but on the contrary can lead to negative consequences.
It has always been believed that Music can mend severed relationships. Therefore, both the nations should make sincere efforts to ameliorate the ties and if Music and entertainment can be one of the ways to do it, why not adopt it?