Pakistan on Monday said it would permit public screening of the 1984 Indian movie Sohni Mahiwal, a love story set in Punjab, but denied having lifted a 40-year-old ban on viewing of Indian movies.

"The government has allowed the exhibition of only one Indian movie Sohni Mahiwal on the basis of a court decision," Censor Board chairman Ziauddin told reporters in Lahore [Images]. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters he was unaware of any decision on the lifting of a ban on Indian films.

"I have no knowledge of any such decision," Ahmed said, reacting to comments by office bearers of the Film Producers Association and the Cinema Owners Association that the Pakistan government has approved a request to delete the words 'Indian artiste' and 'Indian director' from censorship guidelines that prevented the release of films featuring Indian actors and directors.

"An appeal was made to President Pervez Musharraf [Images] and the president has omitted this clause," Pakistan Film  Producers Association President Sayed Rizvi had been quoted as saying.

When the attention of the Foreign Office was drawn to Rizvi's remarks, its spokesperson asked the media to get  clarification from the Information Ministry.

Pakistan had clamped a ban on public screening of Indian films after the 1965 war with India. It stayed, despite desperate appeals from the declining Pakistan film industry to allow Indian films to be screened in its theatres and permit the two industries to cooperate with each other.

The number of theatres in Pakistan have come down from 1500 to less than 300.

Despite the restrictions on Indian films, Pakistanis watch all the latest Hindi films, as there is a great demand for cheap pirated CDs.

Pakistan cable operators have recently launched an agitation to protest against the ban on telecast of Indian entertainment channels by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.

The ban on TV serials was imposed as more and more Pakistanis watched popular Hindi serials, which attracted more advertisements.

While banning the Indian channels, the government, however, permitted Pakistani private TV channels to increase the content of Indian entertainment programmes.