The recently-released trailer of forthcoming Bollywood movie "Phantom" has not gone down well with Jamat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed who has filed a petition in the Lahore high court seeking a ban on it in the country.
In his petition, Saeed has alleged that the film contains "filthy propaganda" against his country.
Through his advocate AK Dogar, Saeed pleaded that the Indian film has "venom against Pakistan and JuD". "The film is about the 2008 Mumbai attack and global terrorism implicating the JuD. “Filthy propaganda has been done in the film against Pakistan under subject of the world terrorism," he alleged.
The movie is to be released on August 28. The founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed that the courts in Pakistan had already rejected the accusation of the Indian government about involvement of the JuD or any of its leaders in the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.
"I pray to the court to ban the exhibition of 'Phantom' in Pakistan for its anti-Pakistan content," said Saeed on whom the US has placed a bounty of USD 10 million. Lahore high court's justice Shahid Bilal Hassan fixed August 10 as the date for hearing the petition.
Pakistan had banned all Indian films in 1962, and then in 1979, under his Islamisation agenda, President Zia-ul-Haq re-tightened the restrictions on films released in the country. In 2006, the blanket ban on Indian films was lifted by Pakistan; with certain conditions.
Even after ban's withdrawal many Indian films still get redflagged Pakistan's censor board that includes Salman Khan starrer ‘Ek Tha Tiger', Saif Ali Khan starrer ‘Agent Vinod' , the latest being satirical comedy ‘Bangistan'.
However, Pakistan has allowed the released of Salman starrer ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan' and also appreciated the film as it has shown Pakistan in a good light.
Meanwhile, the recently-released poster of Phantom show the leads are blindfolded with tri-colour and in the backdrop one can see Mumbai's iconic The Taj Mahal Hotel burning.
The trailer opens with vignettes from 26/11 attack and shows its main preperators -- David Headley, Sajid Mir, Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The action moves to some suits discussing why India only severes its cricketing ties with Pakistan after a terror attack.
Saif's Daniyal is an Indian agent who has a job at hand: To find and kill Hariz Saeed (a thinly veiled reference to Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief who is wanted in India and resides in Pakistan). We also see excerpts from the JuD chief's speech in the trailer. The film's trailer oozes patriotism and does full justice to its tagline: A story you wish were true.
26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed is the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, which carried out the audacious 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.
Saeed, who has a $10 million US government bounty against him, is the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), a terror outfit listed by the UN but operates freely across Pakistan.
