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Everyone’s talking about the uber-popular drama serial Dar-e-Nijaat and Nadia Hussain is the latest celebrity to add her two cents to the online discourse surrounding the show’s lead couple, Abu Bakar (Sheheryar Munawar) and Zaryab (Durefishan Saleem).

In a video posted on her Instagram on Thursday, the former model called Zaryab “a complete red flag”.

Hussain said, “Looks can be truly deceiving, so if we judge Zaryab’s character on her beauty, it would not be right.”

She said that while it is wrong to marry off a girl to a red-flag man because his parents believe marriage would fix him, it is just as wrong to marry someone like Zaryab to someone like Abu Bakar and ruin his life.

“What Abu Bakar is bearing, it’s beyond any normal man’s ability to tolerate nonsense,” the model said. “Zaryab did not need to get married to a man to fix her life… She’s so toxic that honestly, I would not wish that kind of a life or that kind of a wife on any man.”

Hussain said that when we talk about feminism and gender equality, we must understand that men shouldn’t have to deal with situations like this either and that the solution to the problems facing women like Zaryab don’t lie in marriage; she needs therapy.

“They need to be told the reasons for whatever happened in their lives… so that they can have their own journeys towards healing; it should be self-healing, not that you get married and destroy a man’s life,” Hussain said.

The TV host said she believes love has the power to heal a lot of things, but it’s wrong to expect a man to bear with a red-flag woman like Zaryab “nor should they; women shouldn’t either”.

“Let’s get the facts right, let’s get our emotions right, let’s get our perspective right on relationships,” she said, “We need to understand that relationships are fragile and that withstanding such unthinkable toxicity is beyond love. This is torture. Zaryab is torturing Abu Bakar.”

Hussain said a man like Abu Bakar deserves a better wife and a balanced relationship where both partners understand each other’s boundaries and respect them. She urged people not to “promote toxic relationships”.

If you haven’t been following the show — or the near-constant internet chatter surrounding it — Dar-e-Nijaat is the story of Zaryab, who gets dumped by her high school sweetheart Zamil (Nameer Khan), and has a very difficult time dealing with it.

Her parents get her married to a sweet, pious family friend Abu Bakar and their on-screen relationship has sparked debate online, with viewers across Pakistan divided over the characters and their relational dynamics.

The show’s main couple is a hot topic especially around the weekend when the show airs.