Pakistani social media’s latest hot topic has been the significance of seat belts and the dangers of driving with your child on your lap. This conversation was triggered when Shaniera Akram called out Feroze Khan for driving with his daughter in his lap, sans seat belt. While most people openly sided with the activist, Imran Ashraf shared a video with his son on his lap in his car with no comments. The timing was smack in the middle of the controversy, which gave Akram the wrong idea but Ashraf cleared up his point of view, saying he has nothing to do with any of this.
On Sunday night, the Dum Mastam actor took to Instagram to respond to Akram’s story, which had a screenshot from his video with his son captioned, “Now people are copying Feroze Khan in solidarity! Please say this is wrong or little lives are at risk.” He wrote, “BISMILLAH. An answer to the people who own me, my viewers. Listen to the whole thing. Please wear seat belts. To my well-wishers, please refrain from saying any harsh words to bhabhi [sister-in-law] Shaniera [Akram]. Thank you.”
Ashraf said he had woken up to many tags and mentions, and explained how he was “dragged” into a matter he had nothing to do with. “If you follow me, for the past one year, I have been posting something with Roham everyday. Yesterday too, the way I normally enjoy with my son — sometimes on a scooty, other times going places — I posted a video [from] outside my house, my child was on my lap. Roham had called out and said ’Baba, come downstairs!’ I was on the terrace, I’d just woken up, I’m in my hoodie.
“So while taking the car inside, we did a dance at which our bhabhi, who has come from a different country and is worthy of respect and is affiliated with a person who is our country’s biggest star, yes, he [was] a captain, he [was] the captain of [the] Pakistani cricket team, he made us win so many matches and gave our country a big name, we are the claimants of that. She took that video — that had just a heart on it, [content] I’ve been sharing with my son everyday — and linked it with her active controversy,” he said.
He posed some questions for his followers to communicate that there was nothing from his side that connected him to the controversy. “Is there anything written on that video? Has it tagged anyone in it? Have I said that you are saying something wrong? I can’t help but laugh, an accusation is a big deal, bhabhi,” he said after a light chuckle. “Without thinking or understanding, just to save your controversy, you took someone’s personal home video with his child — [it affects] me, my kid and my kid’s mother while we are going through something really difficult, people go through it, everyone knows. We are [dealing with] destruction at the moment. Why would I get in your fight? Why would I call you wrong? I have nothing to do with you, we’re not even on talking terms.”
Concluding his message, he addressed Akram and asked her to be more careful of whom she points a finger at. “So bhabhi, please don’t do this. Bhabhis are like mothers, please, please not like this. You shouldn’t drag someone without reason like this. Someone’s video that does not have anything in writing, that doesn’t have a statement, that has nothing, you are linking me, you are pinning allegations on me? You are saying that Imran Ashraf is saying ‘Take your kids out without seat belts!’ This is so insensitive,” he added.
Former actor Noor Bukhari dropped down in the comment section and told Ashraf to “ignore her” as she comment’s on every celebrity and as a parent, he knows better.
In response, he said Akram is right about seat belts but he was “hurt” by her sharing a screenshot from his video, pinning “her own assumptions” when she had nothing to go on.
Cricketer Umar Akmal showed support for the Ranjha Ranjha Kardi actor as well.
When a netizen pointed out the timing of Ashraf’s video colliding with Khan’s very public statement about not caring about his child’s safety enough to wear a seat belt, he said people should not make assumptions and that his family wears seat belts.
It is rather unfortunate that Ashraf was linked to a controversy he was not involved in. He should not have been dragged in it without a clear statement from his side but we have to say, sometimes visuals are more powerful than words and even sharing a video at such a time could seem like you are making a statement. Everyone should be careful with what message they’re sending out, but celebrities in particular need to be aware of the virtual climate and make sure they are not promoting something harmful, given their influence.