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Actor Nimra Khan revealed that she was almost kidnapped from outside the Ramada Karachi Creek Hotel while waiting for her car.

A teary-eyed Khan detailed in a video shared on her Instagram that three armed men on a motorcycle came up to her and allegedly pressed a gun to her stomach in an attempt to kidnap her despite a visible mobile phone in her hand.

The Karachi police said they were investigating the alleged kidnapping after Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar took notice of the incident after her video went viral on social media.

South DIG Syed Asad Raza told Dawn the police have invited the actor to record her statement in order to initiate legal proceedings but she did not want to pursue the case.

The police have also retrieved CCTV footage of the incident and described it as one man on a motorcycle coming into the open parking space opposite Ramada Hotel and attempting to “misbehave” with the actor.

“Miss Nimra promptly responds by pulling him back and runs towards the main road. A vehicle stops to rescue her, assessing the situation the culprit escapes from the point.”

The South DIG said that as per the initial investigation, he can say with a degree of certainty that it was not a kidnapping attempt nor bid to rob her. Instead, it appeared to be an attempt to make ‘indecent advances.’

Social media appeal

“I saved myself. They held onto me and were trying to take me with them. They had a gun to my stomach. I started yelling but no one heard me,” the Umm-e-Ayesha actor said in her video, adding that four guards were in front of her but did not hear her screams.

According to Khan, she shoved the assailants’ motorcycle, injuring her foot in the process, and ran into the oncoming traffic to save herself. She said a family got out of its car to help her, which is when Ramada’s team came to rescue her and take her inside.

“I could have been shot from the back, but I saved myself. I am a victim.”

Khan maintained that she was an actor and paid taxes in this country, but contemplated if she should save that tax money to hire four guards for her protection instead. She said she finally understood why people had big cars following them with four guards in the back, and why Pakistanis immigrated and settled abroad.

“[It’s] because we get no protection.”

Khan also claimed that a friend of her friend had been kidnapped in Islamabad and was still missing, which is what was about to happen to her.

The actor lamented about the current state of the country, stating that while she felt proud to be Muslim, she had “no words” for how it felt to be a Pakistani. She said that only she knew how she saved herself during the incident, adding that “no one would have taken responsibility, a mother and father would have lost their daughter” and her followers would have mourned her with pictures on social media pages for four days. “That’s it.”

Khan questioned if people living in Pakistan felt safe sending their female relatives outside before adding that she could “guarantee” that they did not. The actor also asked how many people truly, wholeheartedly celebrated August 14 — Independence Day.

“I want to tell girls who go to university and college and believe they can do it and manage, you won’t be able to do anything when something is happening to you. Please protect the people in your homes because this isn’t a country where you can proudly declare that you have masculine energy and can drive yourself to places. I’ve said this before: you either find dead bodies [of women] or find them lying on the street.”

She added that she had anxiety and depression after the incident and her mother had to be hospitalised because she thought she lost her daughter.

“Happy Independence Day and thank you Pakistan for making us feel unsafe in our own country, for rendering us unable to wait for our family for two minutes.”

Khan urged her followers to stay safe and stay “indoors peacefully” on August 14.

After she shared her story, support started pouring in from other celebrities. “I’m sorry that we have failed you and every other honest, hardworking citizen of Karachi,” Sheheryar Munawar commented.

Armeena Khan, Zhalay Sarhadi, Meharbano, Nadia Hussain, Sanam Jung and Nyla Raja all voiced their support.

Khan’s video has amassed over 700,000 views, with many commenters offering solace and calling for stricter measures to protect women across Pakistan.