Shaan-e-Pakistan decides to cancel invitations after the retreat of Indian artists

After calling for ban on Pakistani artists working in the Indian film industry, singers Rekha Bhardwaj and Harshdeep Kaur have allegedly withdrawn their names from Shaan-e-Pakistan 2019 gala, which is being held next month. In the wake of Pulwama terror attack, the singers backed out of the event.



Internationally recognized for songs including Genda Phool and Kabira, Rekha was invited to the annual event in which stakeholders from India and Pakistan’s music industry were supposed to take part in a musical summit and award nights on March 21 and March 22.

“I cancelled our show to Pakistan immediately after the Pulwama attack,” Rekha told IANS.



Harshdeep, well known for tracks such as Heer and Dilbaro, confirmed to the website that she will not be attending the event as well.

However, the cancellations from our neighbouring country artists won’t stop the show from rolling.

Huma Nasir, director Shaan-e-Pakistan, has decided not to invite the Indian contingent this time around, given the ongoing tension between Pakistan and India.

“This is a difficult time to host an event propagating Indo-Pak peace,” said Huma. “There’s a lot of political tension. Only recently, a decision has been made to replace Atif Aslam’s song in Salman Khan’s movie Notebook. Given the current situation, I think it's better not to invite the Indians to Shaan-e-Pakistan this time around.”



The event will proceed as scheduled, with a lineup that includes a musical summit where music-centric topics will be discussed in a number of talks, a concert and an awards ceremony lauding achievements in music. The artists participating in the event are Shafqat Amanat Ali, Sanam Marvi, Amanat Ali and Javed Bashir.