Twitterati divided on MNS’ threat to ban Pakistani actors in India

On Friday, Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Karmachari Sena, the film wing of the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, said that it gives 48 hours to all the Pakistani artists to leave the country or they’ll push them out. They also made it clear that they won’t allow Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shah Rukh Khan starrer Raees to release because they have Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan starring in them.

Shalini Thackeray, general secretary of MNS Chitrapat Karamchari Sena, reportedly said, “It is not a veiled threat. It’s a direct threat to producers like SRK and Karan Johar who take Pakistani actors in their movies. You can’t find Indian actors for your films? In this 125 crore Indian population, can’t you find a single Indian actor to cast in your films that you import people from a place like Pakistan, a country with which we all are facing a problem. It’s not a veiled threat but a direct threat. We will not allow the release of these movies here.”

The threat comes a day after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech at the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly wherein he said that Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was a “young leader”.

As soon as the news calling for a ban on Pakistani artists reached the Internet, Twitter trends like #SayNoToPakArtists, #BoycottPakOrNot and #KickOutPakis started doing the rounds. There are people who find it absolutely unnecessary to ban the artists because that’s not going to solve the problem of terrorism and there are some who fully support it and believe it’ll be a lesson to the country.

Those who are against it.