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When Pakistani television network ARY Digital launched its latest prime-time drama Sher , few expected it would trigger a police case under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. The series, starring Danish Taimoor and Sarah Khan, tells the story of Sher Zaman and Fajar, two lovers from rival families who must confront old feuds and social barriers to be together.

But one particular plotline, a marriage between a Syed woman and a non-Syed man, has provoked sharp backlash from sections of Pakistan’s Shia community. In Sindh’s Dadu district, Shia activists filed a formal First Information Report (FIR) accusing ARY Digital of “insulting Syeds, the Prophet’s progenies."

The complainants argue that by depicting such a union, the show disrespects the lineage and purity of Syeds,

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