Kashmir tension: Pakistan ends ban on Bollywood films

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Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone at a promotional event for her film Happy New Year in Mumbai, India, 14 August 2014Image source, Rafiq Maqbool
Image caption,

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone. The films are said to be popular with Pakistani audiences

Major cinemas in Pakistan have agreed to end a ban on Indian films imposed when relations between the two countries deteriorated in September.

The decision to ban the films came amid a rise in military tensions over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

The boycott was imposed after some Indian film-makers had banned Pakistani actors from working in Bollywood films.

Bollywood is popular in Pakistan, and the self-imposed ban is reported to have led to a dramatic loss of revenue.

The move followed a surge in violence in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Film distributors and cinema owners in Pakistan said they would resume screening the films on Monday.

Pakistan first imposed a ban on Indian films, external following the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. The ban was eventually lifted in 2008.

Relations sour over Kashmir

Disputed Muslim-majority Kashmir has been a flashpoint for decades and has sparked two wars between India and Pakistan, which both control parts of the territory.

Today it remains one of the most militarised zones in the world.

In September, an attack on an army base in Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir claimed the lives of 18 soldiers. It was the deadliest of its kind for years.