MNS demands that music labels pull down Pakistani artistes’ works

Mumbai, Feb 17 (IANS) T-Series has pulled down videos and stopped promotions of two songs by Pakistani artistes after a demand from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) following the Pulwama terror attack.

MNS told music labels to drop works by Pakistani artistes and stop collaborations with them, in retaliation for the February 14 attack which left at least 49 CRPF troopers dead.

"T-Series has already removed Pakistani artistes' videos from their various channels from February 15 and has decided to ban them all in future. Ditto with other music companies," Amey Khopkar, President of MNS Chitrapat Sena, told IANS.

According to a source in the know, T-Series removed its recently released songs -- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's single and Atif Aslam's "Baarishein" from YouTube. The promotions of these songs on television and radio have also been stopped.

A stream of film and music artistes in India have strongly condemned the terror attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, which left at least 49 troopers dead.

The Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE) and its 24 crafts of the film and television industry, will hold a solidarity march at the Film City gate here from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday to pay respects to the martyrs and their families.

In 2016, when tensions between India and Pakistan escalated following the Uri terrorist attack, the MNS had asked all Pakistani artistes and performers to leave the country.

Pakistani artistes like Mehdi Hassan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ghulam Ali, have had a huge fan following in India. Over the past few years, artistes like Atif and Rahat, apart from Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, Ali Zafar and Farhan Saeed have also had big fan followings here.