This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
Phantom, based on the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, is adapted from S Hussain Zaidi’s book, Mumbai Avengers. The action-thriller is banned in Pakistan on the plea of the Jama’at-ud-Da’wah chief and notorious terrorist, Hafiz Saeed. The film’s producers, Sajid Nadiadwala and Siddharth Roy Kapur, are shocked that a court in Pakistan has admitted a plea by Saeed, who is reportedly the mastermind behind the 26/11 attacks.
What’s more distressing for director Kabir Khan and lead actors Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif is that the Censor Board of Pakistan hasn’t even seen the film before banning it. The makers feel that Pakistan could be afraid to release this film, that releases in the rest of the world today, because:
1. The four masterminds behind the 26/11 Mumbai carnage — Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, David Headley and Sajid Mir — allegedly have origins in Pakistan, though the country has been clearly denying their involvement.
2. The Pakistan connect of these four masterminds could be making the country uncomfortable and hence, it has asked for the ban on Phantom, that shows how the 26/11 terror plot was reportedly hatched by people sitting in their country.
3. The film portrays a solution to the attacks in the form of counter-insurgent operations,like the one that took place recently in Myanmar, which they want to keep away from the eyes of their common man. There are certain vested interests who don’t wish to awaken the innocent people of Pakistan into seeing how they’re being played.
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