26/11 attackers roaming freely in Pak: Javed Akhtar

LAHORE: The perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks are still roaming freely in Pakistan and Pakistanis should not feel offended when India talks about the 2008 carnage, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar said.

He made the comment at the seventh Faiz Festival organised in memory of celebrated Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, in response to a person in the audience who told Akhtar to take with him a message of peace and tell Indians that Pakistan is “a positive, friendly and loving country”.

“We should not blame each other. It will solve nothing. The atmosphere is tense, that should be doused,” the 78-year-old lyricist said.

“We are people from Mumbai, we have seen the attack on our city. They (attackers) did not come from Norway or Egypt. They are still roaming freely in your country. So if there is a grievance in the heart of a Hindustani, you should not feel offended,” Akhtar said.

Akhtar also pointed out that even though Pakistani artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mehdi Hasan were warmly welcomed in India, Pakistan has never held a show of Lata Mangeshkar.

“We hosted big functions of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mehdi Hasan. You (Pakistan) never organised a function for Lata Mangeshkar,” the poet said, drawing loud applause from the audience.