New Delhi [India]: Veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar has strongly condemned the recent terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, calling for the Indian government to take “solid, definitive steps” to deal with the situation.
Speaking to media during the ‘IP and Music: Feel the Beat’ seminar, Akhtar criticised Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the attack and said that ongoing tensions between the two nations are unsurprising given the frequency of such incidents.
“Tension is there, how can it not be there? If such things keep happening, and after a few days, you see what happens every year or two years, if there is no tension, then what will happen? How can it not be there?” said Javed Akhtar.
Akhtar questioned Pakistan’s repeated denials of hosting terrorist organisations and implied that attackers often escape across the border.
“Lakhs of times they have said that they have no establishment, that we have no connection. So is it believable that such people can come here, and can do this in this way, and then where did they go? Did they run away and leave for Germany? We don’t get our border from Germany. We don’t know where they went,” he added.
Expressing disbelief and grief, Akhtar questioned the motive behind attacking innocent civilians.
“So to say that we have no connection is not convincing. What are they doing? What will you gain from it? What will they get? I don’t understand. You are an innocent tourist, and you are shooting them, point-blank. What will you gain from it? I don’t understand,” said the lyricist.
He urged the Indian government to go beyond short-term outrage and take decisive action.
“And why do you do it? And how long does it last? After a few days, people forget. But I hope that this time, the government takes some solid, definitive steps, that it should be told to the establishment of Pakistan, that this will not do,” he concluded.
The Pahalgam terror attack, which occurred on April 22, is among the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir since the 2019 Pulwama attack, which killed 40 CRPF personnel. Following the Pahalgam incident, India has initiated strong diplomatic and security measures targeting Pakistan’s alleged support of cross-border terrorism.