GURGAON: Four Shiv Sena activists were arrested on Sunday for disrupting a drama staged by some Pakistani actors in Gurgaon. 

Acting on a complaint by Gurgaon municipal corporation PRO Satbir Rohilla, Gurgaon police registered an FIR against the four people belonging to Shiv Sena, a police spokesperson said. 

All the four accused — identified as Ajay, Gautam, Sumit and Jitu — were arrested by police, the spokesperson said. Five to six young men claiming to be Shiv Sainiks climbed atop the stage at an open air theatre in Gurgaon, in the national capital region, where a group of seven Pakistani actors were staging a play called “Baanjh (Infertile)”.

Play by Maas Foundation of Lahore disrupted for about 10 minutes

“They shouted slogans like ‘Bhaarat maata ki jai’ and ‘Pakistan murdabad’ and disrupted the show for five to 10 minutes,” an eyewitness said. 

As the stunned audience looked on, the hoodlums asked the organisers why Pakistani artistes had been invited. The situation was aggravated by the absence of police.

Two policemen had been posted for the play and they were nowhere to be seen when the stage was invaded, the organisers said.

The logic of having just two policemen at the venue was also confounding, especially in the light of Sena workers storming the offices of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in Mumbai in protest against a meeting on resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan, and throwing black ink on Sudheendra Kulkarni for agreeing to launch a book written by a former Pakistani minister.

The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon was the organiser of the cultural event of which the play was a part and the police had been informed in advance.

‘Baanjh’, a play by internationally acclaimed theatre group from Lahore called Maas Foundation, was disrupted for around 10 minutes.

But to their credit, the organisers quickly managed to bring the situation under control. The play resumed after that. It began at 8pm and the disruption happened at about 8.52pm, the organisers said.

—By arrangement with the Times of India

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2015

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