Pak artiste flees India after MNS threatens him

Mumbai: A group of MNS workers barged into Mumbai's Mohan Studios on Wednesday while Pakistani artiste Shakeel Siddiqui was performing for a reality TV show and threatened him, forcing him to leave the studio and the country within 24 hours.

The Pakistani stand-up comedian has been a part of Sony television's show Comedy Circus along with stars like Archana Puran Singh, Satish Shah and Urvashi Dholakia.

"Everyone in India said whatever has happened was not good, everyone in India loves Pakistanis. Everyone supported me in India including the channel. But, some people threatened me and told me to leave India within a week, but after the MNS threat, I preferred to come back to Pakistan in a day," says he.

"He was to participate in the show and he has done very well for the show, but it is not us to have any kind of reaction or opinion on this because we are doing our job and returning home," says actor Urvashi Dholakia.

Both the Shiv Sena and the MNS have for long actively campaigned for a ban on Pakistani artistes working in India, and it's a move which has received some support from within the entertainment industry too. Popular singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya had walked off a reality show which had participants from Pakistan.

"I left that show, that day. They were to sue me because of breach of agreement. It was not mentioned form their side that there will be Pakistani artistes at the show. I refused to do shows where Pakistani people are taking part," says Abhijeet.

More recently the producer of forthcoming Manoj Bajpai starrer Jugaad, Sandip Kapur recalled a promotional song of the film which featured Pakistani singer Adeel.

"We did a song that had a Pakistani artist in the lead, and this was the promo songa and one of the main songs. But now we have put it on hold at this point in time we are not playing it," Kapur says.

Whether Shakeel's departure will affect the work of other popular Pakistani artistes like Raahat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam and Strings in India remains to be seen, but it has definitely renewed the debate on cultural exchange between the two countries.