‘History will remember’: Pakistan’s stars react with grief and anger to Ayatollah Khamenei’s killing
They joined the nation in mourning Iran's Supreme Leader, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on Saturday.
As Iranians gathered in Tehran to mourn their slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, two faces in the crowd were very familiar to Pakistanis. Vloggers Hamza Bhatti and Taimoor Salahuddin — known popularly as Mooroo — were present at the funeral. They said they were invited by the Iranian government.
Bhatti posted pictures of himself and Salahuddin at the Islamabad airport on Friday with the caption saying they were “deeply honored to have been invited to Iran as State Guests to attend the funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei”.
He called it a “privilege” to be able to represent Pakistan at such an important occasion and said he did not take that responsibility lightly.
On Sunday, Salahuddin posted a video from the Grand Mosalla in Tehran where Khamenei’s funeral was taking place with a monologue explaining what it felt like to be there.
He said he was there not to stand with or against someone, but to observe. “What I saw was not a show of strength, it was this nation’s grief — the true grief of losing its leader,” he said.
Salahuddin said he saw the grieving people of Iran practice the same rituals for their supreme leader that “have kept the memory of [Imam] Hasan and [Imam] Husain alive for 1,400 years”.
“This mourning [in Tehran] has been going on for two days, people come, stay for a bit, leave and someone else takes their place. There is no point where everyone is here at the same time, and yet, this place is always full.”
He said he felt a “power” at the event, “with my eyes, in my heart, and I will never forget it”.
Bhatti also posted a reel showing scenes from Tehran, with mourners clad in black in the city streets and visuals of the funeral with shots of Khamenei’s coffin lying in state.
In his caption, the vlogger wrote of “a grief so large it swallowed the whole city. Streets shut down. Shops closed. A nation that stopped moving to mourn one man”.
He said he usually makes videos “about places, food, small joys. This time my camera was pointed at something bigger than me”.
“I didn’t come here to have an opinion. I came here to witness. And some things you only understand once you’ve stood in the middle of them.”