India, Pakistan bodies in tit-for-tat move

Amid rising political and military tensions, Pakistani and Indian bodies yesterday took tit-for-tat moves banning artistes and movies in their respective countries.

In Pakistan, several cinema halls on Thursday stopped screening of Bollywood movies in the aftermath of Indian Army's surgical strikes on terror launchpads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) a day earlier.

Lahore Super Cinema - a prominent movie hall in the city - posted a message on its official Facebook page saying that no Indian cinema would be screened in any of its theaters.

"In solidarity with Pakistan Army and our film actors, Super Cinema being one of the largest Cinema operators in Pakistan hereby announce boycotting of Indian films in at all our Cinemas with immediate effect for an indefinite period," read the post.

Another prominent movie operator - Nuplex Cinema in Karachi, also took to social media to announce that Indian films would be taken off. Nuplex and another chain of movie halls - Atrium Cinemas - stopped the screening of the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer movie 'Pink.'

Escalating tensions between the two countries had already spilled over to the Indian film industry with the Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association (IMPPA) on Thursday passing a resolution to ban Pakistani actors, technicians and performers from working in India.

"We have no objections against those who have already completed a film with a Pakistani artiste or ones that may be on the floor, but starting today, one cannot sign Pakistani artistes for any fresh assignments," Ashoke Pandit, vice president IMPPA, had said.

Amid the uproar, Indian superstar Salman Khan spoke about maintaining peaceful relations between India and Pakistan. Salman said that the action taken towards terrorists is justified, however, Pakistani artists are not terrorists.

"They (Pakistani actors) are artists, not terrorists. It's the government who gives them permits and visas," said Salman Khan.