LAHORE: The Akbari Gate police have registered a case against a female model and a photographer for recording a video on the premises of the Masjid Wazir Khan, Lahore.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Mohammad Awais, an official of the Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA), on the charges of violating the sanctity of the mosque against model Azbia Khan and photographer Zain Shah. The police acted when a video clip was uploaded on social media.

The WCLA official alleged that the model had recorded the video in an ‘unreasonable’ dress and without getting permission from the relevant authority.

He said the video clip was recorded around four days ago and later uploaded on social media. It had also damaged the reputation of the department besides violating the santitity of the mosque, he added.

Earlier, a similar case came to the limelight in August 2020 when police registered a case against a group, including actress Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed, for allegedly ‘violating the sanctity’ of the Wazir Khan Mosque by shooting a music video there.

A few days later, the Punjab Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department banned the shootings of films and dramas in mosques and shrines following the controversial video clip of Saba Qamar and others went viral on social media.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2025