A petition filed against the screening of Sarmad Khoosat’s film Zindagi Tamasha was withdrawn on Thursday.
The petition was filed on Monday by a man named Chaudhry Qadeer Ahmed. He claimed that the film was against the spirit of the Constitution, hurt religious sentiment and violated Pemra’s rules.
In his petition, Ahmed said that the film should not be released in the country or at least, till the court reached a decision. Pemra, the information ministry, members of the censor board and the film’s director were named as respondents.
On Thursday, Islamabad High Court’s Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petition and asked where the film had been screened so far. The court asked the petitioner if he had seen the film anywhere or if it had been released yet.
The petitioner’s lawyer said that he had not seen the film, to which court remarked: “How can you comment on something that no one has seen”.
Ahmed’s lawyer explained that the film’s trailer had been released online and it disrespected naat khawans.
The court asked the petitioner’s lawyer when the film was scheduled to screen. The lawyer informed the court that the film had not been released yet as the Punjab government had made a decision against it. He added that it was important to respect the religious sentiment of the people.
Ahmed’s lawyer requested the court to take back the petition, the court accepted.
Last week, Khoosat’s father had filed a petition against the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan for trying to interfere with the release of their upcoming film starring Arif Hasan, Samiya Mumtaz and Eman Suleman.
He said that the film was promoting a “soft image of society” and had already been cleared by the censor boards, yet the defendant was creating hurdles for them. The petition was withdrawn later.
Khoosat’s film was scheduled for release on January 24 but a statement issued by the censor boards of Sindh and Punjab – who had cleared the film for screening earlier, claimed that they were told that if the film was released it would cause “unrest within some segments of society”.
