INDIAN police on Tuesday (October 5) detained 25 activists of Shiv Sena party protesting against two Pakistani artists appearing on Bigg Boss, an Indian reality television show.
Bigg Boss, the local version of British reality show Big Brother, started a new season on Sunday (October 3) and includes Pakistanis Veena Malik and Ali Saleem among the contestants.
“They (activists) were shouting slogans outside the Big Boss studio. We have detained them,” a police officer told reporters.
Security has been strengthened at the studio – where the reality TV stars live – in the holiday township of Lonavala in western Maharashtra, after Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray threatened to disrupt the show.
“Come what may, we will not allow the show,” Thackeray told media last week.
The show’s producers were unavailable for comment.
Veena, an actress generally known by her first name, ran into controversy in August when she claimed she knew of Pakistani bowler Mohammad Asif’s links to a key agent in the “spot-fixing” scandal that hit Pakistan’s tour of England.
Veena dated Asif in 2009 but they have since split up.
Ali Saleem is a Pakistani television host, often cross-dressing as a woman calling himself Begum Navazeesh Ali.
Another personality taking part in Bigg Boss is Abbas Kazmi, a lawyer who represented Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, at his trial.
Kazmi was removed by an Indian court towards the end of the trial for “not co-operating and delaying” the proceedings.
In recent years Bollywood stars have attended film festivals in Pakistan, while Pakistani actors have featured in Indian productions, after being prevented from doing so for decades by cross-border bans.
