Lahore: The perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks are still roaming freely in Pakistan, so Pakistanis should not feel offended when India talks about the 2008 carnage, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar said at a festival held in memory of poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz in Lahore.

In a video that has gone viral, he is seen making these comments in response to an audience member who told him to take with him a message of peace and tell Indians that Pakistan is “a positive, friendly and loving country.”

He further said, “We should not blame each other...The atmosphere is tense, that should be doused.”

The 78-year-old lyricist also said that though Pakistani artists have been welcomed in India, Pakistan has never held a single show of the late Lata Mangeshkar. “We hosted big functions of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mehdi Hasan. You never organised a function for Lata Mangeshkar,” he said. 

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut praised Javed Akhtar for his candid remarks in Lahore about the 26/ 11 terror attacks, tweeting: “Ghar mein ghuss ke maara (He hit them in their own land)”.

“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 at the seventh Faiz Festival that was hosted by Adil Hashmi, the grandson of the poet Faiz. At the Lahore event, Akhtar spoke at length about language, poetry, performing arts, love and friendship.

He left Pakistan on Monday after the conclusion of the three-day festival which attracted a large audience from all walks of life at Lahore's Alhamra Arts Council. He said Urdu's original name was Hindvi and when everything was divided (during the Partition), “Urdu being a language could not be divided, so it was pushed to Pakistan).”

Regarding lack of depth of performing arts and arts, the lyricist said speed of communication has come at the cost of depth.