Mumbai-based Afghani-Pak actor Malisha Heena Khan supports Pak actor Saba Qamar after court issues arrest warrant

MUMBAI: Afghani-Pak actor Malisha Heena Khan has come out strongly in support of Pakistani actor Saba Qamar, after a Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant against her.

Malisha Heena Khan in a media statement issued in New Delhi said: “As an actor and artiste, Saba Qamar is being persecuted by the Pak authorities under pressure from religious fanatics, clerics and unreasonable individuals for their own vested interests and for self-publicity. The concerned video is of a marriage ceremony and hence has been shot in a mosque. There was no music or any other such entertainment and only a solemn marriage scene was shot in the hallowed premises, with the actors and unit paying due attention to ensure that the venue was not desecrated in any way. Merely shooting a scene, does not imply that the actor or the film unit desecrated the place. In India too, in Bollywood and regional films, marriage scenes are shot in temples and churches. Does it mean that the directors, producers and actors of the films will be prosecuted by the Indian police, she asked?

According to a PTI report, a local court in Pakistan Wednesday issued an arrest warrant against Saba Qamar in a case registered against her and others for shooting a ‘dance video’ at a historical mosque in Lahore.

Lahore’s magisterial court issued the bailable warrants for Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed for constantly avoiding the court hearings. The court adjourned the hearing till 6 October, PTI said.

The Lahore police had last year registered a case against Qamar and Saeed under section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code for alleged ‘desecration’ of Masjid Wazir Khan in the old city of Lahore.

According to the FIR, both actors had trampled upon the sanctity of the mosque by shooting a dance video, and this act also sparked outrage among the people of Pakistan.

The Punjab government had also sacked two senior officers in connection with violation of the mosque’s sanctity.

Following strong criticism and even death threats to her on social media, Qamar and Saeed had apologized for their act. “It was a music video featuring a nikah (marriage) scene. It was neither shot with any playback music nor has it been edited to the music track,” she had said in her defence.

Qamar, whose work in Bollywood movies received appreciation, had also done a biopic of social media sensation Qandeel Baloch. She received death threats on social media for her “un-Islamic” action.

She was warned on the social media that she might face the fate of Qandeel Baloch, who was killed by her brother in 2016 for ‘disgracing the family honour.’

Different religious parties including Jamaat-i-Islami had also held demonstrations in the city, demanding ‘strict punishment’ to artist couple for what they call committing sin.