Ayesha Omar, Fia Khan rally behind Shaniera Akram after her criticism of Feroze Khan driving without a seat belt

Actor Feroze Khan may have had a snarky response to Shaniera Akram’s criticism of his lack of regard for his child’s safety while driving, but her criticism has started a conversation on the importance of road safety. The most recent people to agree with Akram’s point of view are actor Ayesha Omar and model Fia Khan, who talked about the road accidents they experienced and stressed on the importance of wearing a seat belt.

Omar took to Instagram stories on Saturday and thanked Akram for raising her voice on the matter. She wrote, “Seven years ago, Today, I was in a terrible car accident and I broke four bones in my upper body, sitting in the backseat (not the front seat even). Had I been wearing a seat belt, I wouldn’t have suffered any injuries I was told.”

She said that after her harrowing experience, she doesn’t step foot in a car without a seat belt and always encourages others around her to wear it as well. “I cannot stress the importance of seat belts enough. For yourselves and your children and every human riding in a car, it SAVES LIVES,” Omar said.

Fia also shared that she was in an accident in Lahore, nine years ago on Women’s Day with her daughter. She shared that her time in Berlin got her and the family accustomed to seat belts, which is why it saved her and her daughter’s life in the 2013 accident.

“Cut short, the car overturned several times and we landed upside down on the opposite side of the road. If we wouldn’t have been wearing the belts, trust me! We would have been out of the windscreen and maybe down the bridge,” wrote Fia. She also sent love for Omar and Akram for speaking up.

Fia and Omar’s responses come a day after Feroze responded to Akram with a video of Khabib Nurmagomedov wrestling a bear and then the video switches to a child fighting bears. The narrator says Nurmagomedov grew up fighting bears. “World’s number one fighter, Shaniera Akram. He didn’t hear you or his father while being trained or he would’ve wasted major [talent],” he wrote. “I’m part of Pakistan’s professional racing fraternity for the past two years. I understand the sensitivity a lot more than you can. Let me do me, you do you. You’re heard and ignored. I’m back to business.”

He soon got a response from Akram, who said that she doesn’t understand what this means and asked him to refrain from sending “sick, cryptic animal cruelty videos.” In another Instagram story, she wrote, “A professional racer would know that putting your child in the front seat of a car is the most unprofessional thing you could ever do!”

The 32-year-old actor responded, “I already requested to have Wasim bhai translate. You wouldn’t get it. Requires strength of understanding.”

On Friday, Akram had shared a clip of Feroze driving with his daughter on his lap without a seat belt. She had written, “I am so sick to my stomach on the stupidity of some people! Why don’t they get it through their thick heads! this is DANGEROUS and putting your own child’s life in jeopardy.”

Stating facts, she wrote, “If your child survives, chances are they will have hit their head so hard they will have a brain injury for life. Why, WHY would anyone ever even risk that? Your child doesn’t know what’s right, but you do! Don’t be an idiot, children are not TOYS!”

Akram said that she’s sick of this behaviour and finds it rather absurd that people don’t use basic common sense and suggested Feroze put his seat belt on and keep his kid in the backseat, instead of his lap.