Salman Khan jailed because he is a minority: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday said that Bollywood actor Salman Khan was jailed in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case because he belongs to the minority community.

In an interview with Hamid Mir of Pakistan's Geo TV, Asif said, "Salman Khan has been sentenced because he's a minority. 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."

"Maybe 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," he claimed.

Earlier on Thursday, a Jodhpur court convicted Salman for five years in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. A penalty of Rs 10,000 has also been levied on him.

Other accused in the case - Tabu, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam - were acquitted, while Salman was held in the court.

In October 1998, total three cases in connection with poaching and one under the Arms Act were registered against Salman. The 52-year-old actor allegedly shot two blackbucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur during the shooting of 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.

Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were also present in the vehicle Salman allegedly used for hunting the endangered species protected under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Act.