Srinagar (PTI): Popular Pakistani sufi rock band 'Junoon' on Sunday mesmerised the audience at a concert here with 4,000 people, mainly school and college students, turning out at the concert and singing along with its superhit 'Sayouni', despite the opposition to the event from terror groups.

The band, which performed under an open sky on the lawns of Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre on the banks of the Dal Lake in front of an audience of 4,000, belted out its popular numbers, including 'Khudi ko kar buland itna' and 'Baba Bulle Shah'.

Salman Ahmad, the guitarist and lead performer of the band, kept the audiences spell bound and at time asked the crowd to sing the second verse after he sung the first. And he received an overwhelming response from the crowd.

The music buffs went wild when the band played 'Chain ek pal nahin, Sayouni', the popular number of the musical group from Karachi, which propelled it to stardom.

In between songs, Ahmad shared some of his experiences about Indo-Pak camaraderie at the level of artistes and mutal appreciation.

On the aim of holding the concert in Kashmir, organised by South Asian Foundation, Ahmad said "I wish peace, love, ambience 'Junoon' witnessed here (at the venue) reverberates from this valley and spreads to entire South Asian Region." Asked about the opposition to Junoon's performance in Kashmir valley from United Jehad Council, an umbrella group of militant outfits, and separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Ahmad said "I want them to join us in the musical jehad for peace and ring the bells of harmony".

Reminscing on his previous trips to India, Ahmad said "when we came to Mumbai for the first time in 1998, a lot of friends asked me to get autographs of Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan.

"After the performance, somebody knocked on our green room and I was surprised to see Salman khan, Juhi Chawla and Kajol. First I thought I should take out my autograph books but I saw the three of them carrying books of their own seeking autographs for their relatives and friends," he said.

Ahmad said he was bewitched by the beauty of Kashmir and added "we have performed all over the world but we have not seen such kind of an ambience before."

He said it had been a 10-year-wait for his band before they could perform in Srinagar.

"When we first came to India, I asked the organisers can we perform here and they said it was difficult. Second time in 2001, the response was the same. But the waht ended last year when SAF Ambassador Madajeet Singh asked me if I would like to perform in Kashmir.

I am feeling very happy. I cannot describe the feeling," he added.

After the band's arrival in Kashmir on Saturday, Ahmad had said "we will sing songs of unity, peace, brotherhood and joy, and this seems to be the perfect setting for these kind of songs."

The organisers will have a mixed feeling about the success of the event. Although those who turned up for the show were happy, many more gave it a skip due to stringent security measures and lack of public transport facility to the venue.

The women's enclosure was almost empty.

Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar inaugurated the concert while former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Afghanistan's Women's Affairs Minister H B Ghazanfar and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah were among those who attended the event.

The Indian band "The Singhs" led by Mickey also performed at the concert.

However, the response was a bit lagging as most of the songs of the band were in English.