With the literature festival only a few days away (it begins on February 5) Kher took to Twitter to express his disappointment and followed this up with a press conference explaining his stance. The press conference became relevant because while Kher claimed his visa was denied, Pakistani officials stated they had never received a visa application from the actor.
Read more: Kher claims he’s been denied Pakistan visa
Speaking to Dawn, KLF's organisers and Pakistani officials painted different pictures of the scenario -- but however this decision came to pass, it ultimately yields only one result: Anupam Kher will not be coming to Pakistan to attend the Karachi Literature Festival. Attempts have since been made by Pakistani officials to rectify this issue but to no avail:
Meanwhile, the issue has escalated in India, with some calling on other Indian attendees at KLF to either boycott the festival or at the very least use it as a platform to express their disappointment about Kher's absence. Though Nandita Das and Barkha Dutt, among others, are still expected to attend KLF, Kher's publisher Ashok Chopra has said he will not be attending out of solidarity.
We spoke to Anupam Kher to get his own take on the issue. Here, he discusses what he hoped to achieve at KLF, his views on Pak-India relations and also, Aamir Khan.
1) We were looking forward to hearing you speak at the Karachi Literature Festival. Can you speculate on why your visa to Pakistan did not come through? Pakistani officials state you never applied for a visa, how would you refute this claim?
Anupam Kher: I cannot speculate on why I was not granted a visa. But I can definitely state that the Pakistan High Commission’s statement is an untruth.
The fact is that the Indian invitees to the Karachi Literary Festival did not have to apply for visas. Only when the organisers were given the NOC from the Interior Ministry of Pakistan were we supposed to send our passports across to the High Commission for the visa to be issued. Factually speaking, not even one of the other 17 invitees in the delegation did apply for a visa either.
2) In a statement you made online you mentioned that Pakistani authorities may have rejected your visa for two reasons: that they didn’t want you to spread ‘India's rich tradition of tolerance’ or that they were afraid you’d ‘expose Pak’s terror nexus’. Could you elaborate?
For more detail India has been very generous in granting visas to Pakistani artists: Anupam Kher
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