Pakistan never welcomed Lata Mangeshkar even though India hosted Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, says Javed Akhtar: ‘This is one-way traffic’

Javed Akhtar told PTI, “The first question should be whether we should allow the Pakistani artistes here. There are two answers, both of them are equally logical. You can toss a coin to find the right answer.” He then spoke about the many great Pakistani singers performing in India and how they received great reception here. “It has been a one way traffic, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Noor Jahan came to India, we gave them a great reception. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, who is a poet of subcontinent, he was living in Pakistan, when he came to India during the AB Vajpayee regime, he was treated like a state head, the kind of respect given by the government,” he said.

Javed then added that even though many Pakistani poets wrote for Lata Mangeshkar, their government never honoured her in the way Indians honoured their artistes. “I am afraid, this has never been reciprocated, I mean, I have no complain with the people of Pakistan. Big poets of Pakistan have written poems for Lata Mangeshkar. She was hands down most popular artist in India and Pakistan in the 60’s and 70’s, but why there was not a single performance of Lata Mangeshkar in Pakistan? We have received artistes with open arms but it was reciprocated by the establishment. I won’t complain to people of Pakistan because they loved her, that’s why she was so popular. They admired her but there was some blockage, the blockage was system, which I don’t understand. This is one-way traffic,” he said.

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Javed Akhtar then presented another point of view and said, “If we block Pakistani artistes with a very solid logic, who are we pleasing in Pakistan? The Army and the fundamentalist? This is what they want. A tall wall between India and Pakistan. So Pakistanis cannot see what kind of freedom and liberty Indians enjoy. They want the distance, it suits them. Both these questions are equally valid.”

He said that the idea of banning Pakistani artistes must be revisited at a later moment as presently, there is no “friendly feeling” towards them. “At the moment, there is hardly any warmth or friendly feeling because of what has happened in Pahalgam. So this is not the time to think about it. This could be thought in better times and hopefully after some years, some sense will prevail and they will have better attitudes towards India from the establishment of Pakistan,” he said and added, “But at the moment, this question should not be asked, not possible.”