Nothing personal against Atif Aslam, but towards Pakistan government: Arko

Composer Arko, whose song "Baarishein", featuring Atif Aslam, has been pulled down by T-Series in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack, says he has no personal hatred against any Pakistani singer, but he has a strong stand against the neighbouring country's government for repeatedly failing to control terrorism.

"I have nothing personal against Atif or any Pakistani talent for that matter because they are artistes like us. I have a problem and I have everything against the Pakistan government and its approach toward handling terrorism that is taking the lives of our people and army personnel," Arko told IANS in an interview.

The song "Baarishein", featuring Atif and Nushrat Bharucha, released on February 13. The very next day a deadly terrorist attack took place in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, orchestrated by the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed. It left at least 40 CRPF troopers dead.

While several Bollywood celebrities have shown solidarity towards the families of the martyrs, social media is filled with people demanding strong action against such terrorist attacks.

"Baarishein" was pulled down from the YouTube channel of T-Series on Monday.

Arko feels showing solidarity will not offer any solution to the situation, but he said: "Not taking a strong stand considering the gravity of the situation, would be worse.

"I do not want any violence that cost human lives of common people, but no retaliation on such an inhuman attack is worse than continuing collaboration, a dialogue. There is no doubt that we all want peace, but not by staying silent when the bloodbath is happening."

In the past, Arko has collaborated with many Pakistani singers like Ali Azmat and Shafqat Amanat Ali apart from Atif, and delivered songs like "Yeh jism hai toh kya", "Allah waariyan", "Tere sang yaara" and "O saathi".

"I know any artiste or common individual is not responsible for what has happened, but the government is. That is why setting out a stand clearly is important. The solution, of course, would be a much complicated political conversation. I am certainly not the right person to comment on that matter, but the act of terrorism can never be supported," said the composer," Arko said.

What is the future of the song?

"Hopefully we will bring the song back with another singer because the copyright of the content is with me and T-Series. Since the video features Atif, we have to look into that matter too, which is a little complicated but we will resolve the issue," replied Arko.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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