FWICE's List of Banned Artists Before the Diljit Dosanjh Controversy

The Federation of Western Cine Employees(FWICE) in a letter to the Minister of External Affairs (MEA), Subhramanyam Jaishankar, asked for cancelling actor and singer Diljit Dosanjh's visa. Diljit Dosanjh accepted an invitation of a Pakistani national, Mr Rehan Siddiqi to perform in the United States of America on 21st September 2019. This acceptance lead to the FWICE writing a letter to the MEA to cancel the visa of the Punjabi actor and singer. Read the full letter by the FWICE below – Federation of Western India Cine Employees writes to Ministry of External Affairs to "cancel the visa of singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh who accepted the invitation of a Pakistan National Rehan Siddiqi for a performance in America of September 21." pic.twitter.com/BVlgFb8J6F — ANI (@ANI) September 11, 2019 List of artists banned or warned by FWICE 1. Mika Singh The Punjabi hit machine of Bollywood, Mika Singh recently faced a ban from FWICE. Mika was banned by the Federation of Cine Employees due to his choice of performing at a wedding in Karachi. This ban by the FWICE led them to issue a warning to all artists who plan to work with Mika. Following the controversy, Mika issued an apology, and a meeting was also held with FWICE body for further discussion. As of now, the ban on Mika has been lifted. The General Secretary of FWICE, Ashok Dubey had made a statement to a media portal, in which he spoke about the ban. He said, ‘If we impose a ban, it means all our technicians -- including actors, directors and even spot boys -- will not work with Mika.' Also read | FWICE To MEA Jaishankar: Don't Allow 'superb' Diljit Dosanj's US Visa 2. Salman Khan The statement made by General Secretary of FWICE, Ashok Dubey, stated that anybody who works with Mika during the ban would also face certain consequences. Salman’s name was mentioned in the statement due to some sources claiming that Mika and Salman were set to perform together in the Houston leg of Salman’s show in the US. The show was titled ‘Close and Personal with Salman’ which was set to take place on 28th August. The American and Indian management teams for the show clarified that there was no interaction planned between the two. The statement made by the General Secretary indicated that it was a warning for Salman Khan regarding any plan to work with the singer. Also read | Mika Singh Reacts On FWICE's Ban On Him, Says 'will Continue To Do Good For The People Of My Country' 3. Alok Nath Actor Alok Nath also faced a ban from FWICE after not cooperating with ICC (Internal Complaints Committee) regarding the rape accusation against him. In a statement by the President of IFTDA, Ashok Pandit spoke about the issue. He said ‘Alok Nath was summoned thrice by the ICC (Internal Complaints Committee), but he didn’t turn up for any of the meetings. Since he blatantly refused to co-operate with IFTDA’s mandate of providing a secure workplace for women, we reached out to FWICE for a six-month ban which was approved by them.' Also read | Salman Khan To Face Ban If He Works With Mika Singh: FWICE 4. Ban on all Pakistani artists One of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever faced by India was the killing of 44 CRPF jawans in Pulwama. The rage against this attack was expressed everywhere. The condemnation of this attack even lead to Bollywood banning all Pakistani artists from working in the Indian film and television industry thereafter. Film associations like Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE), Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA), All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) and several others, supported the cause of banning Pakistani artists. The outrage on social media happened due to no response or statement made by Pakistani artists, who at that point of time were either working in India or profiting from their previous work. This list includes Khoobsurat debutant Fawad Khan, singers Atif Aslam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Raees actress Mahira Khan and singer-actor Ali Zafar. Also read | After AICWA, Mika Singh Banned By FWICE For Karachi Performance Terming It 'unpatriotic, Ghastly'

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FWICE's List of Banned Artists Before the Diljit Dosanjh Controversy

FWICE has banned several artists from the industry even before they called for cancelling singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh's visa by writing a letter to the MEA.

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