The Indian government on Wednesday blocked the Instagram accounts of popular Pakistani actors like Mahira Khan, Hania Aamir, and Ali Zafar, among others, days after the Pahalgam terror attack left 26 civilians dead.
The move to block the actors’ accounts followed shortly after the government banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for spreading provocative and communally sensitive content.
“My heart is with the innocent lives affected by the recent events. In pain, in grief, and in hope-we are one. When innocent lives are lost, the pain is not theirs alone-it belongs to all of us. No matter where we come from, grief speaks the same language. May we choose humanity, always,” she had said.
Mahira Khan made her Bollywood debut in Shah Rukh Khan’s film Raees in 2017.
No Pakistani actor has worked in the Indian film industry after terrorists attacked an Indian army base in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri in 2016.
Pahalgam Attack
On April 22, the terrorists- belonging to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)- asked the victims (tourists visiting the scenic Pahalgam in Kashmir) to chant Islamic verses (kalma) and made them pull down their pants to be sure of their their non-Muslim religious identities (read circumcision) before gunning them down in front of their families, including wives, children and daughters.
The massacre triggered nationwide outrage and escalated India-Pakistan tensions as New Delhi vowed to avenge the killings.In an immediate response, India suspended the landmark Indus River water-sharing treaty and closed the Attari-Wagah road border, which acts as a lifeline of Indo-Pak trade and people-to-people ties, besides expelling diplomats, downsizing high commissions, and issuing a 48-hour deadline to Pakistani visa holders present in India to leave.
