Salman Khan jailed because he's a minority: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday slammed the five-year jail term given to Bollywood actor Salman Khan as ‘discriminatory’.

"Salman Khan has been sentenced because he's a minority," the foreign minister said while speaking to Hamid Mir, anchor of Geo News programme Capital Talk.

To sentence him in a case that is twenty years old goes on to show that lives of those who are Muslims, 'untouchables' or Christians are not valued in India, he added.

Asif added, "May be if he belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence and the court might have been lenient with him."

Earlier today, the Bollywood superstar was sentenced to five years prison by a court in Jodhpur for killing endangered wildlife nearly two decades ago while working on the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Salman, one of India's most recognisable and bankable actors, was taken into police custody and driven to jail after the sentencing amid chaotic scenes outside court.

He will be out soon