Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi cancel Pakistan visit

In the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar and his wife actress Shabana Azmi have decided not to attend an event in Pakistan.

Akhtar on Friday took to Twitter to share that they will not be joining the event, being organized by the Karachi Art Council.

"Karachi Art Council had invited Shabana and me for a two-day literature conference about Kaifi Azmi and his poetry. We have canceled that," he tweeted.

A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district. The death toll in the horrific suicide bombing rose to 49 on Friday.

The Thursday horror was the worst loss to security forces on any single day in Jammu and Kashmir since a separatist campaign broke out in 1989.

Condemning the attack, Shabana said that she is "filled with pain and grief".

"For the first time in all these years, I feel weakened in my belief that people to people contact can force the establishment to do the right thing. We will need to call halt to cultural exchange.

"There is no way we can carry on with cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan even as our martyrs are laying down their lives for us. I stand in solidarity with the grieving families," she added.