Indian activists demand security for 'threatened' Pak artists participating in 'Bigg Boss'

Lahore, Oct 7 (ANI): Following threats from two Hindu organisations against Pakistani artists participating in a reality TV show in India, civil society activists there have asked the Indian and Maharashtra governments to provide security to the artists.

A group of prominent Indians issued a statement condemning Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for issuing a warning to an entertainment channel for including two Pakistani artists in its reality show 'Bigg Boss,' the Daily Times reported.

"Bollywood and Indian television... are beamed and exported to all countries of South Asia and the world.... India and Pakistan share a common history. Pakistani artists are also popular in India," the statement said.

Referring to the contribution of Pakistani artists to the Indian film industry, the statement further said, "Music, art, sports have no boundaries. They are the messengers of peace, friendship and love. We need to promote and encourage exchange of artists."

Calling for promotion of people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan, the group urged the Shiv Sena and MNS to voice their objections in a democratic manner.

"These parties claim to represent the people of India while they are hated in the rest of the country and find little acceptance in Maharashtra itself," the message stated.

Observing that this was not the first time that these parties had threatened Pakistani artists, the group appealed to the central and Maharashtra governments to provide complete security to the Pakistani artists as well as the channel team working on the concerned show.

The signees of the statement included Kamayani, Mahesh Bhatt,Mazher of COVA, Asad Bin Saif, Dolphy D'souza of Bombay Catholic Sabha, Jatin Desai of Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, Meena Menon, and Sukla Sen of Ekta (Committee for Communal Amity). (ANI)