At a convention marking Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) three years of performance, Abrar ul Haq made some comments which has celebrities debating.
Singer turned politician Abrar ul Haq’s quipped about mothers playing the song ‘Baby Shark’ to their children instead of reciting the kalma to them.
“When we used to be young, we got to listen to the Kalma being recited by our mothers. Today’s kids are handed cellphones so that mothers can play them ‘Baby Shark’,” he said.
A video of Haq’s comment, which included him singing ‘Baby Shark’, went viral.
Nadia Hussain, actress, shared the video on Twitter with the comment, “Not sure how you go from listening to the Kalma from your mother to belting out song such as ‘Nach Punjaban’ or ‘Billo De Ghar’,” referring to the popular songs of the singer about women.
The song ‘Nach Punjaban’ is about a Punjabi woman who loves to dance while the song ‘Billo De Ghar’ is about a man flirtatiously rushing to the house of a woman he likes. Yasir Hussain backed Nadia up by sharing her critique on social media. “You’ve hit the nail on the head. Good one,” he said on instagram Stories.
Shafqat Amanat Ali, famed singer, rose to Abrar ul Haq’s defence, pointing out that his comment did not single anyone out but rather includes “all of us.”
“The songs ‘Nach Punjaban’ and ‘Billo De Ghar’ were not by the singer in the lap of his mother at the age of one,” Ali continued. “He’s talking about raising kids here, not someone’s profession. It is a person’s choice whether they want to be a singer or an actor when they grow up.”
Zarnish Khan also defended Haq. “If someone says a good thing, let’s term it as such,” she said on Instagram Stories. “Let’s not ignore what they said or judge their whole lives. If this goes on then we’ll have to practice becoming deaf [to good statements].”
