Eminent journalist Bhawana Somaaya launched her new book ‘Farewell Karachi’ in the presence of Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi at a club in Mumbai on May 30. The book is based on Bhawana’s family and their migration to India after the partition. Javed Akhtar raised some interesting points about the relations between India and Pakistan at this event.
Javed Akhtar makes EXPLOSIVE comments at Bhawana Somaaya’s book launch: “Every country has an army but Pakistani army has a country; we opened doors for their musicians, actors but they never did”
Javed Akhtar began by saying, “Something happened in South Africa and it should have happened here. Maybe, now it’s a bit late in the day. The ones who migrated to India know what happened to them. Those who went there spoke about their stories. Sadly, that generation doesn’t exist anymore. It has been more than 70 years since independence. These must be in their 90s. The governments of both countries should have made the refugees sit together, probably in the 1950s, and made them narrate their stories. That would have been (much more impactful). But it didn’t happen.”
He further said, “I don’t see the situation improving politically in the near future. There are vested elements there comprising their army, their establishment and their bigoted extreme right wing. Sadly, they are the ones who are influential. There are crores of people in Pakistan who’d like to have good relations with India. This is not because some of them are good people but because they want to establish an association with India as ours is a bigger country. We have everything – big corporates, big opportunities, big cinema, IT, industrialization, etc. They obviously want to have access to it.”
Javed Akhtar continued, “However, it is not in the interest of the army, the establishment and the right wing of Pakistan. Our army is quite professional. It is not political at all. Lekin wahan aisa nahin hai. Every country has an army but the Pakistani army has a country!”
He added, “I am not implying ki hum doodh ke dhule hue hai or that we haven’t committed mistakes. But the fact is that in this matter, the Indian government’s record in the last 70 years has been much better than that of the Pakistani government. From our side, there have been genuine efforts to improve relations. Lekin taali ke liye doosra haath utna zor se aaya nahin jitna aana chahiye tha! On a cultural level as well, we made efforts. We opened doors for their poets, musicians, actors, etc. But they didn’t open their doors.”
Javed Akhtar further stated, “With regards to the Kashmir dispute, we have never been that aggressive. A lot of people complain about it. That aggression has always come from that side. A lot of people in Pakistan do understand that we have been wronged. But the number of such people is far less.”
He made an appeal to fellow Indians saying, “I want the people here to understand that there are all kinds of people in a country. Kuch acche log hai wahan and they want to maintain good relations with India. We should see to it that they should get more credit, so that someday, they come to power. The ones who are in power right now will never improve relations with us. It’s not in their interest. Hence, when we push the whole country, we are also demonizing those who can team up with us. That shouldn’t happen.”
Shabana Azmi, at this point, cautioned, “This is all going into a political zone. I am worried as the press is going to take out one-half of what Javed has said. Nobody will be quoted in their entirety and we will take away from the book launch.”
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