NEW DELHI/KARACHI, Feb 2: Actor Anupam Kher has been denied visa by the Pakistan Government to attend the Karachi literary festival, prompting him to suggest today that the decision may have been influenced by his stand on the issue of Kashmiri Pandits and his support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kher, who said he has been denied a Pakistani visa for the third time, was one of the 18 Indians invited to the four-day KLF starting Friday by the organisers and all of them including senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid and actor Nandita Das but excluding the actor were granted the visa.
“I am not angry, I am hurt, upset and somewhere wanting to know the reason. Out of 18 why only I was singled out.
It could be either because I am a Kashmiri Pandit, I am not playing a card of Kashmiri Pandit and trying to divide people, or because I’ve spoken about the issue of intolerance, taken a stand and have applauded my PM. Otherwise, there is no logical reason why the visa was denied to me. This has happened for the third time,” Kher told reporters in Mumbai.
The Pakistan High Commission in Delhi said Kher had never submitted visa application and so the question of issuing or denying him visa does not arise. Kher, a BJP sympathiser, has just been honoured with Padma Bhushan by the Government.
In Karachi, KLF said they are unaware of the reasons for rejection of visa for the noted actor.
Ameena Syed, the spokesperson for the KLF, told PTI that they had been advised by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to tell Kher not to submit a visa application as he would not be issued one.
“That is all we have been told. They told us that the remaining 17 guests invited from India should be asked to submit applications as they would be issued visas,” she said.
Kher called Pakistan High Commission’s assertion a “lie”, saying that country’s Interior Ministry did not send a clearance for his visa even though the KLF organisers pursued the matter vigorously with it.
Kher said he was feeling “helpness” and that he would like the Government to take up the matter with Pakistani authorities.
Publisher Ashok Chopra, who was to address a session along with Kher, said he would not be travelling for the festival in solidarity with the actor. Nandita Das said the visa issue has been dogged by claims and counter-claims.
Taking a dig at those who talked about intolerance in India, Kher said “those who had talked about intolerance in India should now come forward on this issue.”
“I feel when there was an atmosphere of extending friendship from either sides, this is like a big speed breaker in a smooth operation which shouldn’t have come,” he said.
“I do not understand how can I be a security threat. I am not an extremist,” he said when asked whether he was denied visa on security grounds.
The actor said the organisers had given the list of the invitees to the Interior Ministry and he would have gone to Pakistan High Commission in Delhi to complete the formalities to get the visa once the approval was given from Islamabad.
Kher produced a series of e-mail communication with the KLF organisers about the visa issue, alleging that the Pakistani High Commission was trying to mislead on the issue.
“It was important to bring to light Pakistan High Commission’s lies,” he said.
Kher said the visa denial has left the festival organisers embarrassed and they have apologised to him.
Kher said he would not have gone to Karachi if he was one of those 17 people granted visa and if one of his colleagues was refused this document without any reason.
The actor said this was for the third time he was denied visa by Pakistan but made it clear that he would not refuse to go to attend the event next year provided he was assured about the visa in advance.
“I am very sad and disappointed that so many people were given visa but I was the only one who has been denied it. We welcome their artistes in India. If there are objections to their performance at one place in India they are welcome at other places. But there is no reciprocity,” he said.
Kher was also denied a visa last year in May to visit Lahore on an invitation of a Pakistani NGO and security reasons were cited for the decision.
Sources in the Pakistan Government said in Karachi since Kher is very much active and vocal in the social media on sensitive issues pertaining to religion and Indo-Pak relations he was not asked to submit his application.
The KLF spokesperson said around 35 invitees from abroad are participating in the festival including from the US, Britain and Bangladesh besides India.
On Pakistan High Commission’s claim that he had not applied for the visa, Kher said if it was true then how 17 others got the document and that why the organisers had put his name in their posters.
“They are telling a lie. I do not have to do it. The organisers had done it,” the actor said earlier in the day.
“We welcome their artistes in India. If there are objections to their performance at one place in India they are welcome at other places. But there is no reciprocity,” he said.
KLF’s Sayed felt the Bollywood star’s presence would have given the Karachi audience a different perspective.
“We had organised an exclusive session for him with Ashok Chopra with a very large audience. People would have asked him questions about his views. He would have had a chance to talk to them, to engage with them, to answer their questions and in the process some understanding would have developed.
“His coming here could have made such a difference. It might even have led to some change in his opinions or it might have changed or would have resulted in more understanding of his views, but it is only when you come face to face,” she said. (PTI)
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