Pakistan forced war like situation on India through support to terror: Javed Akhtar

Pakistan has forced a war-like situation on India through its constant support to terror, lyricist Javed Akhtar said on Thursday, asserting that the debate on Pakistani artistes working in Bollywood was secondary to the gravity of the situation today. What is happening on the border is terrorism and should be banned, Akhtar said on the sidelines of an event.

"This situation has been forced on us. This wasn't our choice. But now it has come on us, what should we do? How many times and for how long will we keep quiet? "We will have to react at some point. The kind of talk happening is dangerous and no one likes that," Akhtar told reporters when asked to comment on the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed.

The screenwriter also addressed the debate on Pakistani artistes working in Bollywood which has intensified after the fresh round of hostilities. "These things are minor. Leave them. That's not a big deal. But what is happening on the border... it's terrorism and should be banned," Akhtar said.

Discussing the "constant sponsoring of terrorism", he said he didn't know what the agenda of the Pakistanis. "The Pakistani establishment and the Army may deny it, but it's out in the open...," he added.

Akhtar and his actress wife Shabana Azmi cancelled a trip to Pakistan on an invitation by the Karachi Art Council to celebrate noted poet and his father-in-law Kaifi Azmi's birth centenary after the Pulwama attack. Akhtar also asked why Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, released by India in exchange of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in Kandahar 20 years ago, ended up in Pakistan after he was set free in Afghanistan.

"Masood Azhar was a man who was made to let go in exchange of Kandahar hostages. How did he reach Pakistan from Afghanistan? If the Pakistani establishment is honest, why didn't it arrest him?" he asked. The JeM has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama bombing, prompting Indian forces to strike at the terror group's biggest training camp in Pakistan on February 26.

This led to a retaliation by Pakistan the following day. An IAF pilot was captured by Pakistan after air combat on Wednesday during which the two sides said they shot down each other's warplanes.

The aerial engagement between India and Pakistan, for the first time since the 1971 war, marked a dramatic escalation in the confrontation between the two neighbours, prompting world leaders to urge the two neighbouring countries to exercise "utmost restraint".