New Delhi: Javed Akhtar recently visited Pakistan for a literary festival in Lahore, where he spoke about the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks roaming freely in Pakistan. A video of the lyricist-writer speaking at the festival held in memory of legendary Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz was widely shared on social media. Kangana Ranaut too reacted to it and praised him.
Javed Akhtar responded to a person in the audience who reportedly asked him, "You have visited Pakistan 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?"
"Let us not blame each other. That won’t solve issues. Jo garam hai fiza, woh kam honi chahiye. Hum toh Bambaiye log hain. Hamne dekha wahan kaise hamla hua tha. Wo log Norway se toh nahi aaye the naa Egypt se aaye the, wo log abhi bhi aapke mulk me ghum rahe hain. Toh ye shikayat agar Hindustani ke dil me ho toh aapko bura nahi manna chahiye (The atmosphere needs to cool down. I am from Bombay and all of us witnessed the attack on Bombay. The attackers weren’t from Norway, or from Egypt. They are still present in your country, so you should not be offended if an Indian complains about this).", said Akhtar.
Recently, Javed Akhtar revealed the audience's response to his remark at the Pakistan event. In a recent interview, Javed Akhtar claimed that his remarks about the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai were positively welcomed in Pakistan.
Sharing the audience's response with NDTV, Javed Akhtar said, "They all clapped. They agreed with me. There are many people who admire India and want to have a relationship with us. We tend to think of countries as monoliths. That is not the case. How do we connect with millions of people, who want to connect with India."
He was further asked if this was the right time for talks between India and Pakistan, and if a middle ground was needed for that to happen. To this, he said to NDTV, "I don't have that kind of calibre (to respond to this query). People who are in power, who are holding that position, understand what is happening, what is the situation how to go about it. Pakistan Army, the Pakistani people, and the Pakistani establishment are not on the same page... People who run the country know better. My information is little. We in India have very limited information about Pak people. Same is the case with them."
He added that there are many people in Pakistan 'who admire India', and wanted the two neighbours to 'have a relationship'. Javed further spoke about how 'Pakistan Army, Pakistani people, Pakistani establishment are not on the same page'.