Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a legend and this is extremely disrespectful
Tensions between India and Pakistan continue to escalate because of Kashmir and now, even singers are caught in the crossfire. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, known as the “Sufi king” for his powerful ballads and responsible for many of India’s greatest musical hits has been the latest victim.
Indian authorities just issued warning to Indians for participating in concerts with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Recently, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) asked two of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s concert promoters, Karl Kalra and Nirmal Dhaliwal, to back down and cancel his shows that are scheduled in the coming days in Canada and USA.
“We have received a poster where you are promoting the concert of Pakistani artist, Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in USA and Canada from 4th October, 2019 to 20th October, 2019. We have already given our directive that no Indian artist/singer/ dancer/ anchor/ performer, last but not least, promoter would work with Pakistani nationals and Pakistani artists, in view of the current alarming situation between the two countries.”
In case the warning was not heeded, FWICE threatened to boycott the promoters. They said, “In case if you don’t cancel the shows of Ustad RahatFateh Ali Khan and go against the sentiments of Indians, no Indian artist/singer/dancer/anchor/performer and promoter would ever work with you anywhere in the entire world”.
Previously, Indian singer Mika Singh was banned in India due to his performance in Karachi recently
Mika had to issue a public apology on social media for the concert to get them to revoke the ban.
Singer Mika Singh on his performance in Pakistan: It wasn't that I was adamant on performing there, it was a coincidence that I went there and #Article370 happened. If I made a mistake, I apologise to the federation and the nation. pic.twitter.com/3rU2p5nG36
— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2019
Other than Mika Singh, the federation also sent notices to other singers like Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu for being linked with Pakistan.
Singer Diljit Dosanjh was also forced to cancel a concert because a Pakistani as organizing it
After issuing warning to Diljit Dosanjh and Mika Singh against performing in the USA at an event promoted by a Pakistani national, the FWICE has issued fresh notices to singers Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu. https://t.co/dWIYG5dpUx
— Dipankar Nandi (@dipankar4News) September 18, 2019
The authorities went a step further and even tried to cancel shows of Indian singer Shaan because he had the same promoters as Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Before the promoters were asked to cancel RFAK’s shows, FWICE wrote to their singer Shaan to cancel hs shows just because his shows were being promoted by Karl Kalra who also promoted Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s concerts. Even some Indians themselves were ired at this ridiculous behavior.
It seems like tht #FWICE has no work to do that's y targeting concerts & shows Indian artists for some baseless reasons… There's no connection between shaan Ji's concert & RFAK concerts so why this time pass?#FWICEShame https://t.co/233kMWlsXM
— Kkkk_kkkasam Se 😘 (@Kasam_Ki_Kasam) September 22, 2019
Kuch karo achcha sa instead of this 😏#FWICE what is this?
— Vaibhav😘 (@Vaibhav_4eva) September 22, 2019
@ashokepandit #FWICE is less popular organization which always try to get fame by defaming popular artists
— Kkkk_kkkasam Se 😘 (@Kasam_Ki_Kasam) September 22, 2019
Obviously Pakistanis were not happy about this mistreatment of a legend like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
To be honest, for an entire organization to take note of every single Pakistani celebrity ever and their staff, just to make sure there is no Indian-Pakistani union is the height of petty.
Message for FWICE: pic.twitter.com/kLrJndKbdh
— Officialunofficialjathedar (@Officialunoffi5) September 25, 2019
Some people urged United States to take action against Indian authorities meddling into concerts being arranged in the US
U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was urged to take action against the unfair treatment. They reasoned that cancelled events result in losses and that the federation should not be influenced by its government into taking these steps.
@USEEOC please take notice of this, not that Pakistanis care but these are cancelled events with major losses to all involved. Any and all members of #FWICE should really be concerned about their longterm future as they keep being bullied by their govt. https://t.co/OEerbkp33B
— Zara Tareen (@ztareen) September 23, 2019
Some even asked Indian comedian Hasan Minhaj, who himself was recently banned from entering Modi’s rally in the US, to talk about this issue
Hasan Minhaj, a Muslim Indian/American, is a comedian who often tackles serious issues in a humorous and witty way. Some people wanted to bring his attention to FWICE’s shenanigans and joked that the reason Hasan couldn’t attend the #TrumpModi rally was because of the Pakistani ban.
@hasanminhaj would really love to see your take on the shit #FWICE is doing, they may be the reason you were not able to go to the #HowdiModi event. pic.twitter.com/45XqykbySV
— Sameer Jaffer (@iamdjsameer) September 25, 2019
It’s very clear that India is trying to blacklist Pakistani celebrities because of Pakstan’s firm stance against India imposing Article 370 on Kashmir that violates the rights of Kashmiris. Mixing art and culture with political differences is sad and regressive.
Should celebrities and politics between countries be separated? Or is the Kashmir Issue an exception? What do you think about FWICE’S harsh measures? Let us know in the comments.
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Cover image Via: Talks at Google / YouTube
