Pakistan Court Seeks Government Reply on Hafiz Saeed's Plea to ban 'Phantom'

Lahore: Acting on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's plea seeking a ban on the release of Bollywood movie "Phantom", a Pakistani court today issued notices to the federal and Punjab government as well as the censor board asking them to reply to the petition.

Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan heard the petition and asked the Central Censor Board and the federal and Punjab governments to furnish a reply on Saeed's petition during the next hearing on August 13.

During today's hearing, Saeed's counsel AK Dogar requested the court to issue a stay order but the judge refused.

"It is necessary to hear the respondents first," the judge observed. Dogar also told the court that "there is a direct threat to the life of the petitioner (Saeed) and his associates emanating from the content of the trailer of the film."

He said the grievance of the petitioner is that the film has been advertised to be exhibited in Pakistan. "It is obvious that dialogues coming out of the lips of the different Indian actors and actresses will poison the minds of Pakistani public and will portray Hafiz Saeed as terrorist even though JuD has not been declared as a proscribed organisation," Dogar said.

"The United Nations has also admitted that the JuD is a charitable organisation and is working not only in Pakistan but also outside the country," he argued in the court.

Dogar said the movie is scheduled to be exhibited in India and Pakistan on August 28. "The government should be restrained from allowing exhibition of this movie in Pakistan," he said.

The petitioner said the Indian film has "venom against Pakistan and JuD." "The film is about the 2008 Mumbai attack and global terrorism implicating the JuD. Filthy propaganda has been done in the film against Pakistan under the subject of the world terrorism," Saeed has alleged.