By Subhash K. Jha, IANS,
Mumbai : Pakistani actor Mikaal Zulfikar, who played a terrorist in Britain-based Indian filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra’s controversial film “Shoot On Sight”, says an average Pakistani does not endorse terrorism and it is “cruel and unfair” to blame all his countrymen for the terror strikes in Mumbai.
Mikaal says Pakistanis were as horrified by the terror strike on Mumbai as when the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was attacked in September.
“The two attacks are no different. Both Pakistan and India are at war with terror. And I speak for 90 percent of Pakistanis when I say what has happened in Mumbai has deeply saddened us. Mumbai is a second home to me.
“In Pakistan, we face many more terror attacks than India. We’re more terrorised than you are. we need to stand up and face terrorism as a global community,” Mikaal told IANS from Karachi in an interview.
Mikaal says an average Pakistani does not endorse terrorism.
“No one in Pakistan wants violence. I’ve heard that two Pakistani comedians working in Mumbai (Nadeem and Ehsaan) have been asked to fly back. With due respects to Indian sentiments, to blame the whole of Pakistan is cruel and unfair. In Pakistan, we share India’s pain.
“We in Pakistan are distraught that this should happen at a time when relations were getting so much better. We can’t let terrorism triumph by letting relations suffer. A minuscule section of people are spoiling things between the countries.”
Mundhra has invited Mikaal to Mumbai.
“I need to be in Mumbai and work in Bollywood. I may have visa problems while coming to Mumbai because I am a dual passport-holder (Pakistani and British). We’re hearing a lot of anti-Pakistan sentiments coming from India.”
“I’d love to come to India. But if I feel it isn’t safe then I won’t. But I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve been to India before and I’ve never felt any hostility. I want to bring a message of peace and love from Pakistan and India. I hope the wounds heal by the time I come to Mumbai. If not, I’d like to heal them.”