Bilal Saeed, Saba Qamar apologise for video shoot at Wazir Khan mosque

Saba Qamar and Bilal Saeed fans had been eagerly awaiting the duo's collaboration, 'Qubool'; Qamar was all set to appear in the music video alongside the singer and also make her directorial debut.

As a brief clip from the upcoming video went viral, people on social media were enraged instead. The fact that bits of the video had been shot at the historic Wazir Khan mosque did not go down well with their followers. Many voiced their harsh criticism, stating that the shoot was "offensive" and "disrespectful".

Apologising to his fans, Saeed took to Instagram to clear out the misunderstanding on behalf of the entire team.

"Saba Qamar and I recently shot a nikkah sequence at Wazir Khan mosque which created a huge misunderstanding. A lot of people were hurt, and the impression sent was that we were dancing at the mosque, or playing music there," said the No Make Up singer.

"I would never in my wildest thought imagine doing something as offensive as this. Keeping Allah as my witness, I swear that neither did we dance, nor play music at the mosque. The mosque administration there can also confirm this."

"We do realise that unintentionally, during taking a picture, we might have offended someone with our small move," he added. "However, it was an unintentional mistake on our part. Just a small move for a picture. Saba and I are also humans, and like any other human beings who make mistakes, we ask Allah for his forgiveness. Allah, too, likes people who repent."

"As a Muslim, if I was in your place, maybe I would also think the same. So we also apologise to you, and hope that you can let this go. As a realisation on our part, I am also removing the entire sequence from the video, and assure you that we won't make such mistakes in the near future," he reiterated.

"I had never imagined my name would be associated with something like this. As a Muslim, I am extremely regretful of this and apologise on behalf of all of us, including Saba and our entire team."

Previously, Saba too, had taken to Twitter to explain the situation.

"This is also the only sequence that was shot at the historical Wazir Khan Mosque. It’s a prologue to the music video featuring a nikkah scene. It was neither shot with any sort of playback music nor has it been edited to the music track," she explains.

"The BTS video that's been circulated on social media was just a circular movement to click stills for the poster of 'Qubool' depicting a happily married couple right after their nikkah."

On Sunday, the Punjab Auqaf department suspended the mosque manager after Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the shoot and sought a report from the minister concerned and the department's secretary.

Pledging that he would not let the sanctity of the mosque be violated under any circumstances, Chief Minister Buzdar ordered that a comprehensive investigation be undertaken and those responsible for the incident identified.