This weekend, The New York Times sent back a report from a visit to Shillong, a city that the paper says is the "hub" of India's rock and roll scene. The Times describes the town as full of Bob Dylan singalongs and guitar circles, but it's not all peace, love and music.
The city is located in the northeastern corner of India, an area that the Shillong Times says is "under Islamist rebel threat." Militants from nearby Bangladesh are a growing presence in the region and they're not rock fans.
A local message board that contains postings for heavy metal
drummers and ads for rock festivals also has evidence of the tension
between local music fans and the mujahideen. The board has messages
from a 2007 show by the internationally-known Brazilian thrash metal
band Sepultura that was nearly canceled after pressure from Muslim fundamentalists.
The Shillong Times says a banned Bangladeshi jihadist
group, Allah'r Dal, is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks and
for "fueling insurgency in India." The mujahideen aren't even the only
fighting force amassed near the city. Security analysts say Northeast
India is teeming with militant leftist groups that are behind "Asia's longest running insurgency."
With a dual uprising in full effect, Shillong doesn't seem to be
the safest destination for music lovers. Now that they've recommended
rock concerts in Shillong, maybe next week the Times will tell us about a great bed and breakfast in Kashmir?
Related Stories:
· Town in India Rocks (No Use to Wonder Why, Babe) [NYT]
· India Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: NYT]
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