New Delhi: Javed Akhtar is a poet who has a large fan base in Pakistan. However, his remarks against the country have brought him a number of enemies. While he is hailed in India for his bold speech, many of them, especially celebrities, openly expressed anger against the gifted poet.
Pakistani actress Saboor Aly has condemned Javed Akhtar’s Mumbai terror attacks statement. She took to Instagram and shared a series of stories slamming his statement after his video went viral on social media.
The actress wrote, “Koi apne ghar mein aa kar beizzat kar ke ja raha hai upse khushi se shor machaya ja raha hai aur phir qadmoun mein baitha ja raha hae (Someone has insulted your country on your own soil, and you are celebrating him, honouring him with such joy, sitting at his feet). What a shame!”
She further mentioned in Urdu, “All the educated illiterate – the so-called niche – you never gave the same respect to your own talent. So many artists in this country didn’t even have money to afford healthcare at the end of their lives. Where were all of these appreciators of talent back then?”
While, actor Shaan Shahid tweeted, “Inko Gujarat mein musalmanoon ke qatil ka tu pata hai lekin yeh khamosh hain… aur ab yeh sahab Pakistan main 26/11 ke mulzimoon ko dhoond rahay hain. Isko visa kis ne dia (He is quiet about those who killed Muslims in Gujarat, but wants to find those behind the Mumbai attacks in Pakistan. Who gave him a visa to visit the country)?”
Writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar’s recent comments about the 26/11 attacks, made before a gathering in Pakistan, have irked certain Pakistani celebrities. At an event in honour of the Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Akhtar reminded the crowd that the perpetrators of the attacks are still roaming free, and that to expect Indian to ignore this would be unfair.
We saw how Mumbai was attacked. They (terrorists) came neither from Norway nor Egypt. They are still roaming freely in your country. So, you shouldn’t be offended if there’s a grouse and bitterness in Indian hearts over the 26/11 attacks,” Akhtar said at the literary event held in the memory of renowned Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to say that though we have organised so many grand functions of Nusrat (Fateh Ali Khan) Sahab and Mehdi Hassan sahab in our country, you couldn’t organise a single event of Lata (Mangeshkar) ji,” Akhtar said.