Javed Akhtar: India always took initiative to solve problems with Pakistan, latter hasn't

Mumbai, May 31 (IANS) Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar lashed out at Pakistan, and said that India has always taken the initiative to better its relationship with all its neighbours.

The veteran screenwriter attended a book launch along with his wife Shabana Azmi in the Andheri west area of Mumbai.

Javed said at the event, "India has always made genuine efforts to better the relationship with Pakistan. We opened cultural channels with Pakistan and its artists. But you can't clap with one hand, Pakistan never made any solid efforts to make things better”.

He further mentioned that India, despite its rightful claim on Kashmir, had never been the aggressor. The aggression has always been shown by Pakistan.

“There is such a big dispute in Kashmir. In spite of our claim, we have never been aggressive. In fact, many people complain, 'why are you not aggressive?' We are not that. So the aggression has always been from that side. So this is not right”, he added.

One of the prime cases of Pakistan’s aggression against India is Operation Gibraltar, which was planned and executed by the Pakistan Army in the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India in August 1965. The operation's strategy was to covertly cross the Line of Control (LoC) and incite the Muslim-majority Kashmiri population's uprising against the Indian Government.

Kargil War, and the recent terrorist attack on civilians in Pahalgam, sponsored by Pakistan, are other examples.

The event also saw Javed and Shabana reading excerpts from the book. They spoke about the pain of migration of all people who were displaced. The family of the author of the book migrated to India after the partition.

Javed also said that governments of both the countries should have made an effort to make the refugees of both the countries sit together and share their stories of separation.

He shared, “Only then would we have truly known what happened to whom and what kind of atrocities were faced by how many people. It would not have remained one-sided. But this did not happen. Anyway, the situation in the near future, I do not think, will get much better politically”.

--IANS

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