Pakistani actors returning back from India

The strain in Indo-Pakistan ties over the terror attacks in the city has begun taking a toll on actors from across the border working in
Bollywood. Pakistani actors are running scared after Indian authorities blamed their country for the terror attack in Mumbai. Zaheer Abhas, a participant of `Sa Re Ga Ma,' allegedly left for Lahore on the night of the attack in the city. The singer told TOI from Lahore, "I was supposed to come to Lahore to shoot for a special episode with my family. But I am not getting a ticket to return to India.'' He said, "Kuch nahi kiya toh darna kya. (If I have not done anything, why should I be afraid) I will come back to India if I get a ticket.'' But Pakistani sources said economy class tickets to Mumbai are available for the next two days. "`There are chances that the producers of the shows involving Pakistanis are taking precautionary measures and want to keep the actors away from Mumbai,'' said a source. Pakistani actors currently shooting for television and films in India are running scared. On Sunday, about 500 members of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena(BVS) barged on to the sets of Raju Srivastav's show at Chetan Studio in Andheri and warned him against hiring Pakistani artistes.
On hearing this, Pakistani actors Kashif and Shakeel Siddiqui were immediately moved from the shooting and shifted to a safe place. Said Kashif, "After the producers of our show heard that some people had threatened Raju Srivastav, we have been moved to a safer place. Our family wants us to come back home.'' According to him, they wanted to return on Monday but unfortunately, did not get the tickets. "Guess we will finish the shooting that is left of our show.''
However, sources close to the actor's family said that Shakeel Siddiqui and Kashif are returning to Pakistan on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the BVS has also issued a diktat to channels on the same issue. Abhijeet Mane of the party said, "We went on Raju Srivastav's set and requested him not to work with Pakistani actors. We have told the channels to do the same.'' When told that Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray is an ardent fan of Ghulam Ali, Mane said, "So am I, but it is time for all of us to sacrifice.''