‘Who was that?’ Edhi asks after meeting Veena

Veena said that philanthropists like Edhi are the need of the hour for this country. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: 

Actor Veena Malik recently went to Edhi Homes to inquire about the health of Abdul Sattar Edhi. After the young female actor left with the swarm of cameras accompanying her, Abdul Sattar Edhi unassumingly asked, “Who was that?” A teenage girl beside him smiled and replied, “Veena Malik”.

The congested poverty stricken area of Old Karachi houses the philanthropic headquarters of Edhi Homes, which had a celebrity visitor on Wednesday but Edhi was quite unaware of that. Veena Malik entered the ground floor of the lobby where Edhi was seated and greeted him.

“I have wanted to meet you for ages. Philanthropists like you are the need of the hour for this country.” While clutching his hand tightly, she said, “My family members and I have been regularly praying for your speedy recovery.”

To this, Edhi said in a low tone, “Do pray to the Almighty to allow me to do more work for others.” Malik smiled and raised her hands to pray. But the well-respected philanthropist had no idea who was praying for him.

Speaking to the media, who had surrounded them, she said, “It’s an honour for me to meet him in person. We are two ambassadors of human rights. Even if Pakistanis, in general, do 0.1% of the good he has done for the suffering humanity, the country will be a better place to live in. I wish and I hope to follow his footsteps.”

Malik said she is in talks with the International Human Rights Commission regarding the role she would like to play in three principle areas concerning health, education and women empowerment.

Her husband Asad Basheer Khan Khattak, who had accompanied her, said “It is my childhood dream to come and meet Edhi sahib. I don’t have the words to describe it.”

During a five-day visit to Karachi, Veena also paid a visit to Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s tomb and was hoping she could visit M.A Jinnah’s tomb as well and pay her regards to the founder of the nation.  When questioned if she plans on meeting politicians residing in the city, she said, “No, that’s not in the schedule.” However, with the budget release round the corner, she hoped that the government would initiate projects for the promotion of Pakistani culture and nationalism.

Veena does not want to become prime minister!

When micro-blogging website Twitter exploded on Tuesday evening in the wake of the apex court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, a user tweeted to singer-actor Veena Malik: “We want you as the next prime minister.”

The artist’s response was a witty “But PM gets arrest warrants in Pak….confused.”

Veena later told The Express Tribune, “I follow Pakistani politics. I am a part of Pakistan so mujhe bhi bohot temptation hoti hai to keep up with the news. I follow everything on Twitter.”

When asked to share her views on the current political scenario, she said: “The arrest warrant for the prime minister came as a shock to me. Okay, log corrupt hotay hain or corruption hoti hai but, if the prime minister is involved it is shameful and shocking.”

Veena also said that she finds the current state of Pakistani politics amusing. “We had no idea who Tahirul Qadri is! All of a sudden he’s on the scene; he’s standing up for the nation against corruption, electricity shortage etc, but where was he before? His slogans seem so funny to me.”

At the end, Veena joked about the state of our entertainment industry, saying “No wonder Pakistan’s entertainment industry is not big – politics is entertainment! It’s comedic, political drama.”

Hero TV decides to air Veena Malik’s Astagfaar Show

After the reports of Veena Malik removed from Hero TV’s Astagfaar show, the situation has got another twist and Hero TV management now decides to take a risk and air Veena Malik’s Astagfaar Show.

Following the public outrage on social media, Veena Malik had been dropped from the show and the whole crew of the program that was busy in shooting in Dubai was called back. Reportedly, Hero TV had already paid upto 4 Million PKR to Veena Malik for the show recordings and 6 episodes of the said show has already been recorded. To save the channel from huge loss, the management has now decided to broadcast the first six episodes of the show, which have been recorded already.

The show would be continued and Veena might return back, if Pakistani TV audience appreciates the first 6 episodes.

Story developing…

'People started judging me before watching Astaghfaar'

Veena Malik’s Ramazan show “Astaghfaar” was cancelled after the promo received immense criticism from the masses, but the actor finds it sad that people started judging her before even watching the show.

“Even before the show was released, people started saying that Veena Malik is not allowed to do this show. It is very sad,” said Malik in an interview to BBC Urdu. “Neither did people see the show nor did they know what the show is like. It would have made sense if people reacted at the end of the show, but this does not make any sense to me… It was very very strange behavior.”

When asked why the show was called off, Malik said that she did not know the inside details, but she knew that the channel received a lot of “serious threats”.

Describing the show, Malik said, “This is a beautiful concept and I have not done a show like this before. In the holy month of Ramazan, I made an effort to learn something related to religion and I made an effort to sit with people and interact with them as to why this is a blessed month and what good things we should do in this month and what all do we need to learn in life.”

But when a caller asked whether her future will be a religious one or one full of scandals, Malik snapped back saying that people are being judgemental when they say there is a rift between her and her religion. “Religion is a very personal matter for me. I am very religious, but it is something between me and my God. I don’t think a third person can stand in front of me and judge how religious I am or I am not.”

Another caller asked her to move towards religion, to which Malik said that she had been studying Islam since she was ten. “The difference between me and others is that I have read the Holy Quran with translation, which most people do not. I may not be a complete or perfect Muslim, but I constantly try to understand Islam better.”

Malik also hinted that she might join politics as she has done social work and knows people well, but when asked about marriage, Malik was clear that she is “not in the mood”.

“When the time is right, I will get married.”

Veena Malik’s Ramazan show called off after public outrage

The idea of the controversial Veena Malik repenting for her sins on national television did not settle well with the awaam. From internet petitions calling for the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to ban the show, which had been scheduled to air during the holy month, to comments on social media forums, the anger was hot and unrestricted.

The furor and resentment around the show finally made the production team rethink their decision to air it. “Hero TV is for theawaam. If the awaam does not want to see Veena Malik on this Ramazan show, then we will cancel it,” said a member of the team, adding that they respect the wishes of the populace.

A YouTube user by the name Hamza Imran uploaded a video of his reaction to Veena’s Ramazan promo. Cursing heavily, he appeals to viewers:

“Can you imagine Veena Malik, who not so long ago stripped half naked with an ISI tattoo on her? She hasn’t got any right to be entering Pakistan, let alone being on a TV show that has such religion significance,” he says, holding his head, clearly appalled. He also adds that he has uploaded his video to “spread the message” to the show’s producers for its cancellation. “I’m not just going to be Facebooking or liking things online because that’s not going to make a difference. I want people to email Hero TV and send them hate messages and ask them to stop this. She’s a disgrace of a person. How dare she?”

Amidst the hue and cry around this controversial show, a few questions come to light. If Hero TV was “heroic” enough to take such an audacious stance (by inviting the notorious Veena on their sets) in the first place, why didn’t they simply stick to their guns and see it through? Some commentors suggest that it is a publicity ploy to garner attention for a channel that receives none at all. “What depths will the media plunge to next in the ratings game? Is there any hope for an informed, progressive and responsible media?” asks one irked commenter on The Express Tribune website.

A Pemra official told us that he was just as baffled. “What do media owners want?” he asked, requesting anonymity. “Could they not find anyone else? If they want ratings, can’t they get scholars with good reputations instead of fuelling extremism by bringing such controversial figures on TV?” he asked, adding that Veena and other televangelists are “hypocrites”.