As India-Pakistan bilateral relations continue to be under strain, Pakistani actress Veena Malik has said art remains the only bridge between the two neighbours.
“Today SRK, Salman and Amitabh are as big stars in Pakistan as they are in India. The only bridge which is still there between the two countries is art. Whenever someone says that send Pakistani artists back, then we should also understand that Indian films will also get banned in Pakistan as a result,” Veena Malik told during a visit to Kolkata.
Asked to comment on Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay, who succumbed to injuries earlier in the day following a scuffle with another inmate in a Jammu jail, she said, “It reminds me of what Gandhi had said – an eye for an eye will only make the world blind.”
Veena pointed out that with the recent deterioration in relations between the two countries, people to people relations had also suffered.
“Whenever anything happens, they say send Veena Malik back. Artists are very fragile because their hearts are soft and so they make soft targets,” she said.
52-year-old Sanaullah, who was serving life sentence at Kot Balwal Jail in Jammu, was grievously injured in an attack by an inmate on last Friday and died in a Chandigarh hospital.
The assault came a day after the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh who was attacked by fellow inmates in a Pakistani jail.
“When Sarabjit case happened, my heart cried because he was a guy who is already under trial and under the grip of the law. To kill him is inhuman,” said Malik, the 26-year-old actress best known for her stint in ‘Bigg Boss’ in 2010.
She said harmony, love and peace should increase so that Sarabjit and Sanaullah cases don’t recur.
“We (India and Pakistan) have bigger challenges. We are not enemies. Let’s get over our past and move on into a new life,” said Malik.