Singer Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, who was the first Pakistani artist to condemn the Uri attacks has explained why his contemporaries shied away from doing the same initially.
He said that from the word go, Paksitan was seen as the perpetrator of the attacks that claimed the lives of 18 Indian soldiers. “It all started with the blame on Pakistan from the word go, which absolutely put them on the back foot. No artist will like to hear things agains their country…They were made to feel defensive from the moment this unfortunate incident happened,”IANS quoted him as saying.
His concert in Bengaluru scheduled for September 30 was cancelled owing to increased demand for Pakistani artist to leave India.
Lately, other Paksitani artist at the receiving end of the right-wing atttack for not condemning Uri attacks have broken their silence on the issue.
Mahira, who is set to make her Bollywood debut with superstar Shah Rukh Khan, posted on Facebook that she strongly condemns any act of terror.
“As a Pakistani and citizen of the world, I strongly condemn any act of terror, any loss of human life no matter which soil it is on! I will not rejoice in bloodshed and war. I will always hope for and dream of a world where my child can live without it, and always plead with everyone to imagine a peaceful world,” she wrote.
Fawad, who stars in upcoming Bollywood film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, also broke his silence over the attack in a Facebook post.
“I’ve received numerous requests from the media and from well wishers worldwide asking me for my thoughts on the sad incidents that took place in the past few weeks.”
“As a father of two little children, I pray and wish like many others that together we can build and live in a more peaceful world. I believe we owe it to our children who will shape our tomorrow,” he wrote.
Fawad was also in the middle of a controversy due to unverified statements about India and Bollywood being attributed to him. He has denied making any anti-India or anti-Bollywood statements back in Paksitan.
Singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, another popular Pakistani import to Bollywood, tweeted, “As #artists we are taught to be #respectful where is the #belief gone #music has no #race or #religion #terrorism is a sin and I condemn it.”
With inputs from PTI
