Javed Akhtar Calls Out Pakistan In Pakistan

NEW DELHI, (IANS) – Acclaimed lyricist, screenwriter, and poet Javed Akhtar‘s comments in Pakistan on 26/11 terrorists “roaming free” in the country and the bitterness in the hearts of Indians have drawn huge applause in India.

Akhtar was last week welcomed with thunderous applause at the 7th Faiz Festival in Lahore. Apart from his love for great Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Akhtar spoke largely about language, both English and mother tongue – bet Hindi, Urdu, or a regional one – and the need to give the same respect to all of them.

During an interaction, Akhtar said that Pakistan couldn’t blame Indians for being angry.

The lyricist was responding to the audience saying: “You have visited Pakistan so many times. When you go back, do you tell your people that these are good people, they aren’t just bombing us but also greeting us with garlands and love?”

Akhtar replied: “We should not blame each other. It will solve nothing. The atmosphere is tense, which should be doused. We are people from Mumbai, we have seen the attack on our city. They (attackers) did not come from Norway or Egypt. They are still roaming freely in your country. So, if there is anger in the Hindustani’s heart, you can’t complain.”

India has hosted Pakistani greats such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mehdi Hassan, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, but Pakistan never had a Lata Mangeshkar show, Akhtar pointed out.

His comments in Pakistan are being equated on social media to the surgical strikes.

The poet said that the competition and hatred between the neighboring countries has spread through language and culture.

“Some so-called messiahs of language on our side, either it’s for Urdu or some other language, say remove this particular word because it is not ours. You keep removing, and the language will keep getting poorer,” Akhtar said, adding that script is not language and there are several words that we use in our daily life that are either Turkish, Punjabi or even Japanese for that matter.