Arrest warrants against Saba Qamar, Bilal Saeed cancelled

Arrest warrants against actress Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in a case of the alleged desecration of Wazir Khan mosque have been cancelled.

On Wednesday, a Lahore district court issued bailable arrest warrants for Saba Qamar and Bilal Saeed. Judicial Magistrate Jowaria Munir Bhatti issued the warrants while setting the bail at Rs30,000 each when the two did not appear for a court hearing.

Now, according to a notification issued by Saba Qamar on Facebook, their bail has been cancelled. She shared the news with a caption, “Indeed, there is no substitute for diligent, responsible reporting and some good research.”

The case was filed last year, after which an FIR was filed against in a Lahore court. The warrants were issued after both failed to make an appearance at the hearing. In August last year, a case had been registered at the Akbari police station of Lahore on the complaint of advocate Farhat Manzoor after the release of the song Qabool Hai.

A sessions court had directed the Akbari Gate police station house officer to proceed in accordance with the law on an application seeking registration of a case against the two and others for shooting the video.

The case was registered on a court order after a short clip of Qamar and Saeed at the historic mosque went viral on social media. The video drew strong reactions from religious circles. Saba Qamar responded to the criticism in a series of tweets, saying the clip was a ‘prologue to the music video featuring a Nikkah scene. It was neither shot with any sort of playback music nor has it been edited to the music track,’ she said on Twitter.