Despite tensions between Pakistan and India dying down, a war of words between celebrities on either side is continuing with Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar responding to veteran Pakistani actress Bushra Ansari’s jab.

 

Bushra had earlier this month taken a jibe at a “so-called writer” in India as tensions brewed between the two countries and viral videos showed Indian celebrities training guns at Pakistan. “He was just waiting for an excuse. He cannot even get a house on rent in Bombay. He’d say anything for his survival,” she had said without naming the writer.

 

“Even Naseeruddin Shah is quiet… others are staying silent too… why can’t he?” she had questioned without naming the “so-called writer” but it had come following a viral video that showed Akhtar demanding strict action in response to last month’s Pahalgam attack.

 

At least 26 people were killed in a terror attack in the Pahalgam area of held Kashmir when unidentified gunmen had opened fire on innocent tourists on April 22. India had alleged Pakistani involvement – an allegation denied by Islamabad while offering independent probe – and later launched cross-border strikes. The attacks had led to intense clashes between the two countries till a ceasefire was agreed to with the help of United States (US) amid heavy losses on the Indian side.

 

“Who are you to give me advice? Who gave you the right over me? Why are you expecting me to stay quiet? I might have 25 problems, but I am an Indian when it comes to her,” Akhtar said while calling out Bushra in an interview with The Lallantop on YouTube.

 

While he confirmed the claim that his wife Shabana Azmi was 25 years ago denied a flat in Mumbai for being a Muslim, he said the “bitterness” in Hindus was rooted in their treatment in, and exit from, Sindh during the time of Partition back in 1947.

 

“If the owner of the property did not sell us the flat, it was because of you [Pakistan],” he said.

 

The interview comes days after Akhtar drew the ire of Pakistanis when he said he would rather go to hell than to Pakistan. “People from both sides abuse me,” he said at the launch of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s new book ‘Narkatla Swarg’ in Mumbai on May 17.

 

“One calls me a Kaafir (apostate), saying I will go to hell. The other calls me a jihadi, asking me to go to Pakistan. So, if I only have a choice of going either to hell or to Pakistan, I would rather like to go to hell,” he had said, overlooking the hospitality he received on all his trips to the country, including the latest in 2023.