The daughters of late Pakistani comedian Allah Rakha Pepsi have publicly denied claims made by veteran actor Sohail Ahmed about the circumstances surrounding their father’s death.
Sohail Ahmed had said that the comedian suffered a fatal heart attack after learning that his daughter’s marriage, which he described as troubled and abusive, had ended in divorce.
The daughters rejected the claim entirely, calling it false.
Speaking to a YouTube channel, one of the daughters responded when the host asked her which interview hurt her the most after her father’s passing, given that people had spoken both in his favour and against him and his family.
She said, “Mostly what Sohail Ahmed Sahib said. I have met him before. I was very young when my father introduced me to him and said, ‘This is my youngest daughter.’ But he humiliated us on social media for no reason.”
“He is like an uncle to us, and we respect him like a father figure. But with clasped hands, I request him not to humiliate us on social media,” she added.
“Please do not tarnish my father’s name. Whatever respect he earned in his life was by the grace of Allah, but please do not put our family or our dignity on display before the entire media.”
“We have been humiliated. We have not been allowed to live in peace. My father had no peace while he was alive, neither on social media nor in his personal life,” she revealed.
She concluded saying, “Now that he has passed away, at least let him rest in peace. Let him find peace in his grave.”
Earlier, Sohail Ahmed said that Allah Rakha Pepsi was a self-reliant man who never asked others for favours despite financial struggles. He claimed Pepsi’s son-in-law repeatedly demanded money from him and had at times been physically abusive.
Ahmed said that he learned, while attending Pepsi’s funeral, that the daughter’s divorce had been finalised that same day, and he suggested this added to the comedian’s distress in his final hours.
Allah Rakha Pepsi, a well-known Punjabi stage and television comedian, died after suffering fatal cardiac arrest. Reports indicate he had existing heart problems that he had not treated properly. His death came shortly after he had been performing on stage.
Sohail Ahmed is yet to respond to the claims.
