Akshay Kumar: Our soldiers and their families' future should be our concern

On Thursday evening, 6 October, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar released a statement about the Uri attacks, surgical strike and the cultural war of attrition being played out between India and Pakistan on his Twitter handle. [caption id=“attachment_3038048” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Akshay Kumar. News 18 image[/caption] In a short video clip of about a minute-and-a-half, Kumar laid out his viewpoint for his followers. He prefaced it with a caption that read: “[This is] something which has been on my mind since the past few days and I just had to say it. Not intending to offend anyone…” Akshay says in the video: I’m not talking as a star or celebrity, but as the son of an Army man. For the past few days, I have been seeing the discourse in the press, on social media, in conversations. Some are asking for proof of the surgical strikes, others are asking for a ban on Pakistani actors, still more are debating whether or not there should be war. What I feel is – leave all this aside. Can we spare a thought first for all those martyrs who lost their lives at the border [in the Uri attack?] Nineteen of our soldiers died at Uri. A 24-year-old jawan, Nitin Yadav, died during the Baramulla attack. Do you think the families of the soldiers who were martyred, or the relatives of all the thousands of soldiers who serve in the army are concerned about whether or not a film releases? No, they’re concerned about their future. And our concern should be ensuring that their present, and their future, is good. They’re there, that’s why I’m here. They’re there, that’s why you’re here. They’re there and that’s why India is here. Jai hind! Watch the clip of Akshay’s statement here:

Something which has been on my mind since the past few days and I just had to say it. Not intending to offend anyone...so here goes pic.twitter.com/ASaLwobWgu

— Jolly Mishra - Asli Jolly from Kanpur (@akshaykumar) October 6, 2016

Over the past few days, several Bollywood celebrities have come forward to explain their stance on the current bilateral tensions. From Salman Khan to Nana Patekar, read their comments in full here .