Javed Akhtar’s remarks require a bit of introspection

Bollywood’s screenwriter and lyricist insinuated that Pakistan was involved in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008

Recently, Bollywood’s screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar made offensive and inaccurate remarks about Pakistan. Akhtar had been invited by the Lahore Literary Festival. While engaging with the audience, Akhtar said, “We saw how Mumbai was attacked... They [the terrorists] are still roaming freely in your country.”

This not only incorrectly and obnoxiously insinuated that Pakistan was somehow involved in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, in 2008, but also falsely pointed towards the apparent lack of judicial oversight and law enforcement in Pakistan. To be invited as a guest and make such ill-founded remarks is tasteless, to say the least, but requires a response that forces a bit of introspection from the Indian side.

February 2023 saw 16 years since the Samjhauta Express Bombing. The terrorist attack took place in the Delhi-Lahore train. During the intervening night of 18/19 February 2007, at 23:53 hours, an explosion occurred in two unreserved carriages of Samjhauta Express and killed 68 people. Of them, more than 40 were Pakistani Muslims, clearly indicating that the blast was targeted towards Pakistanis and Muslims.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) charged eight people in the terrorist attack, including Swami Aseemanand, a Hindu fanatic cleric, previously associated with the RSS. It took NIA 12 years to conduct the investigation and even after a prolonged wait for justice, the perpetrators of the attack, including the mastermind Aseemanand, were acquitted by the Indian courts in 2019. The acquittal came despite a confession by Aseemanand, who later retracted his confession before the courts.

The Samjhauta terrorist attack was one in a string of terrorist attacks by the RSS and Hindutva terrorists against Muslims. The dealing of India’s criminal justice apparatus of these heinous crimes showed that the entire system is profoundly compromised by its prejudice against Muslims.

Akhtar’s remarks “... roaming freely in your country” is misplaced and shows a lack of self-reflection. The Samjhauta attack was not the only one that Swami Aseemanand was accused of. The Hindu fanatic was also accused and charged with the 2007 Ajmer Dargah bombing and the 2007 Mecca Masjid bombing. Aseemanand was acquitted of all charges, citing a lack of evidence in every case. Today, the Hindu cleric, responsible for the deaths of uncountable Muslims, from both India and Pakistan, “roam[s] freely in [India]”.

Moreover, names like Indresh Kumar and Pragya Thakur, individuals also linked to the Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Dargah blasts, appeared in the Samjhauta blast investigation. However, they were not made co-accused in the Samjhauta bombing case, without providing any reason for their exclusion from the charge-sheet. The Indian courts themselves, in the Samjhauta blast judgment, labelled such action by the NIA as “very strange”. Today, these two individuals, known as fanatics with an anti-Muslim agenda, “roam freely in [India]”.

On the legal front, the actions of the accused were also violative of international law conventions on terrorism. The International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, a multilateral convention to which both India and Pakistan are parties, states that an offense is committed “[…] if [a] person […] detonates an explosive […] with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury […]” and/or “[…] if [a] person organizes or directs others to commit an offence […]”. Despite the international commitment made by signing this convention, India has failed to deliver and bring to justice those responsible for the brutal murder of Pakistani citizens.

More than a decade after the Samjhauta Express bombing, citizens of Pakistan, who lost their loved ones in the terrorist attack, await justice from the legal and law enforcement authorities in India. Despite such a bleak history, with zero accountability, Pakistan puts its best foot forward and invites and honours Indian literary figures, such as Javed Akhtar. To come to Pakistan as a guest, and then give problematic and inaccurate statements, is not only highly unpalatable but also reflects a lack of contemplation of historical antecedents and issues plaguing your own country.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2023.

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