Actor Sushant Singh, General Secretary of the Cine & TV Artistes Association (CINTAA), feels the government needs to take some hard decisions and solid steps to isolate Pakistan rather than simply look towards the Indian entertainment industry for a ban.
Says Sushant angrily, “How do we ban the already banned? No, the first reaction is we shouldn’t allow Pakistani artistes to work in India. Please wake up and look around, the film industry has not been working with Pakistani artistes since the Uri attack.”
Sushant says there has been a complete ban on Pakistani artistes in Bollywood. “Post Uri attack, producers and federation had banned Pakistani artists. Did the government take any official stand? No.”
Why, asks Sushant, was Pakistan given special status? “I asked in every interview and debate, why is the government not revoking the Most Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan? Why don’t we break all economic relations and put pressure on Pakistan to act against terrorists operating from their soil? No action whatsoever.”
Sushant also calls for a ban on cricket matches between the two countries. “Indo-Pak matches happened, nobody protested. Rather, they cheered. Our soldiers kept getting killed in Kashmir and on the border. Did we put any international and economic pressure on Pakistan? Any sanctions? Zilch. Now the government wakes up and withdraws the MNF status of Pakistan, after 40 soldiers are killed in a cowardly attack. The most important question should be, how did this catastrophic intelligence failure and security lapse happen? Not whether Pakistani artistes are working in India.”
