Outrage after film crew shoots inside Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Pakistan while wearing shoes

Amritsar, October 3

A film crew invited the ire of the Sikh community after they entered the premises of Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Pakistan with their footwear. According to sources, the crew members were shooting the film “Lahore-Lahore Hai”.

In a video on social media, a group of men with movie cameras and their support staff were seen strolling at the gurdwara in Hasan Abdal of Attock district.

This devotees present on the premises confronted the film crew and asked them to leave the shrine and delete the footage.

A man, who shot a video of the incident, said the crew members were concerned only about their shoot. He can be heard saying that “they do not know about the origin and significance of ‘Gursikhi’ that their Muslim brothers were mocking at the gurdwaras turning into shooting and TikTok points”.

The crew, on the other hand, were seen arguing, “Hum to aapke mehmaan hain…aur aap hamare saath is tarah kar rahe hain (We are your guests and you are behaving like this).” One of the crew members said they had stopped the shooting after the Sikhs objected to it.

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa while sharing the video, tweeted, “Blasphemous actions continue in Pakistan: Sharing a video of beadabi in Gurdwara #PanjaSahib, where a film crew was allowed to shoot for a movie on gurdwara premises. Earlier, we saw similar pictures of frivolous acts on premises of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.”

Sirsa claimed that since the incident went viral, the man who shot the video had been missing and the locals had been threatened against sharing the video. He urged the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the issue with the Pakistan Government.

In November 2021, a Pakistani clothing brand did a photoshoot on the premises of historical Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib wherein the model posed for photos without covering her head.

As objections were raised, the offensive fashion shoot shared on Instagram page of the clothing brand was removed and the owner tendered an apology. After this incident, the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had put a ban on shooting at the shrines.

Blasphemous actions continue in Pakistan: Sharing a video of beadabi in Gurdwara #PanjaSahib, where a film crew was allowed to shoot for a movie on gurdwara premises. Earlier, we saw similar pictures of frivolous acts on premises of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. — Manjinder Singh Sirsa