Javed Akhtar says

“Should we allow Pakistani artists to work here?” He, lyricist Javed Akhtar said on Tuesday, there is a question to be asked in view of the Pahgam terror attack. Rarely “there is any warmth” in India-Pakistan cultural relations, the experienced screenwriter-poet said that it is not time to think whether Pakistani artists should be allowed to work in India. (ALSO READ: Hania Aamir Calls for Budshah to boycott Pakistani talent after the Pahgam terror attack)

Javed shows Akhtar that Pakistani artists should work in India

“This can be thought of a better time and hopefully after a few years something will be understood. And the establishment of Pakistan will have a better attitude towards India. And then it can be considered. But at this time, this question should not be asked.”

He said Pakistani artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mehdi Hasan, Ghulam Ali and Noor Jehan were welcomed by Indian authorities in the past with open weapons, but it was not obtained by the Pakistani establishment.

Government sources said last week that Javed’s comments had come that Abir Gulal, characteristic of Pakistani star Favad Khan, will not be allowed to be released in theaters in India. The move comes amid the growing calls for the ban on the film slapped for release on May 9, falling down 26 people at the picturesque Pahgam mountain of Kashmir on 22 April.

Is there a solution to ban Pakistani artists?

Asked whether the ban is appropriate, Javed said that there would be a better time for this discussion. “Especially whatever has happened recently (this) should not be a subject at this time. Whatever has happened in Pahgam, there is hardly any favorable feeling or warmth,” he told PTI on the occasion of IP and music: Feel the beat of an IP event organized by FICCI.

“The question should be, should we allow Pakistani artists to work here?” Discussing the great reception, Indians have always given great Pakistani artists, also referred to Faiz Ahmed Faiz as a poet of the subcontinent.

“I would not say a Pakistani poet. He was living in Pakistan because he was born there. But he was a poet of the subcontinent, a poet of peace and love. When he came to India, he was considered as the head of the state, during the Prime Minister of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He said, “The kind of honor he was given by the government and the way he took care of him and so on.

The 80 -year -old veteran, who is also the chairman of the Indian protesting Right Society (IPRS), said that Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar was very popular in Pakistan in the 60s and 70s, but did not perform there even once.

“I will not complain to the people of Pakistan because they loved her (Lata). So she was so popular … she praised her, but there was some obstruction. And the blockage was in the system … in such one-way traffic, once fatigue. It gets tired once. It is absolutely equally valid. We do not get any response, but will it last until?” He asked.

Javed also said that blocking Pakistani artists in India will only please the army and fundamentalists in Pakistan who want a long wall between India and Pakistan. “Pakistani should not be able to see what kind of freedom, what kind of privileges every citizen of India has … they want a distance because he suits them.

He said, “This kind of Bonomi that we are working with Pakistanis do not suit at all … because then they go back and they tell about Indian society and they are so privileged and happy that they got this opportunity. It is not appreciated by the rightist.”