Javed Akhtar’s remarks against Pakistan over the years

Indian playwright Javed Akhtar has been a constant critic of Pakistan and its government. The lyricist’s recent visit to Lahore for the 7th Faiz Festival has created a stir on social media.
Apart from expressing his love for the legendary Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz and respecting all languages, his controversial remarks about the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks roaming freely in Pakistan have angered many. However, this isn’t the first time the scriptwriter has expressed derogatory comments against Pakistan.
In 2016, Akhtar told the media that Pakistani actors’ silence on the Uri attack was because they felt Pakistan was responsible. Speaking to Times Now, the 78-year-old artist said, “Their silence is a kind of confession from Pakistani actors that Pakistan is responsible for it. This is the least they (actors) can do.”
He commented, “If Pakistan says that ‘we are not responsible for it (the Uri attack)’, I don’t see any reason why Pakistani artists or any Pakistani citizen should not condemn Uri and this kind of terrorist attack. Because they say that we’re not responsible for it, then wonderful, come out and condemn it! Any Pakistani who keeps quiet about it condones our statement that Pakistan is responsible for it.”
In 2019, Akhtar and his wife, popular Indian actor Shabana Azmi, were supposed to attend an event organised in memory of poet Kaifi Azmi by the Arts Council, which the cancelled following the Pulwama attack. At that time, Akhtar had taken to social media to announce his decision of backing out from the festival.

He tweeted, “Karachi Art Council had invited. Shabana and I for a two-day literature conference about Kaifi Azmi and his poetry. We have cancelled that. In 1965 during the Indo-Pak war, Kaifi saheb had written a poem, Aur Phir Krishna Ne Arjun Se Kaha’.”

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