Zaira Wasim and Raveena Tandon

Barely a few hours after one of Bollywood's emerging talents, Zaira Wasim, announced her decision to quit Bollywood citing religious issues, a new report suggests that she might have been pressured to quit the industry.

Zaira Wasim, whose decision to quit the industry citing 'Allah' and the industry interfering with her 'imaan', was ridiculed by many celebs. Now it has come to the forefront that the young actress might have had to take the decision under pressure and terror. A Times Now report citing a tape reveals that one cleric shamed Zaira and an eight or nine-year-old Kick-boxing champion Tajamul from Kashmir, saying that the two youngsters are a shame for Kashmiri people for allegedly going beyond the lines of Islam. The cleric criticised Zaira and her family members for supporting her.

As per the report, Zaira's family had to live under terror in Kashmir following her debut as the acting was considered a social stigma and breaking the boundaries of the religion. Wasim's parents had allegedly even asked for government accommodation and protection but didn't receive any help.

Raveena Tandon, who was among the first ones to lash out at the actress for her "regressive views" and called her "ungrateful," took to Twitter to condemn such pressure from fundamentalists and religious fanatics. She tweeted: "If this is true and the reason for her to quit,if she was or is under pressure, then I do feel sad for the girl.Was she forced into writing the long statement by radicals out of fear?She was a role model to so many youngsters with dreams and inspirations that they could achieve."

She further tweeted: "I wish her luck and strengthAfter seeing this,I now regret my first immediate tweet after reading her statement.Maybe she was forced to write what was unacceptable to people like me who love films,cinema,the industry, that I was born into.Deleting the tweet that now sounds harsh." (sic)

Zaira Wasim has apparently gone into hiding and refuses to meet people.

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