Senior actor Khaled Anam took to his Instagram stories to taunt the Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz for removing ARY channel’s mic at a press interaction. She also referred to the channel as a blackmailing channel.
Earlier this month he grilled veteran cricketer Shahid Afridi for his recent statements regarding former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He sarcastically pointed out how Shahid at times used to get out with zero runs on the cricket field.
In a recent interview with his family, Afridi stated, “I’ve liked Shehbaz Sharif since the beginning. Show me an administrator like him in Pakistan, you can’t because there is none,” countered the cricketer.
“I didn’t congratulate an Israeli prime minister, I congratulated a Pakistani prime minister. No matter who it was, I’d congratulate them,” he argued. “In my congratulations to Shehbaz Sharif, there was a protest as well, a personal protest between me and Imran Bhai,” he said. In his tweet, he wrote, “Congratulations to Shehbaz Sharif on being elected the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan and I hope that he will be able to use his management skills to bring Pakistan out of the current economic and political crisis.”
Afridi said Imran has been a role model for him since 1989 or 1990. “I wanted to become like him,” he said. “When he entered politics, I supported him. When he set up Shaukat Khanum, I supported him. Until he was in government, I supported him. But, I, my family my children, the whole of Pakistan had a lot of hopes for him,” he said.
The cricketer revealed that the 2013 election was the first time he had ever voted in his life. “A lot of educated people were inspired by Imran Bhai to go vote,” he said.
“I said everything as a Pakistani citizen. I did not have any political motives. And I will continue to say what I want. We have the right to do this and we should remember that,” he said.
The cricketer said he knew he would be criticised for congratulations PM Shehbaz but there were no political motives behind his message. He reiterated that he would have congratulated whomever was the premier because the position itself deserves respect. “We must respect our leaders so the world respects us,” he said.
“But if Imran Bhai says the [Durood Sharif], so do we every day in our prayers. But the fact of the matter is, God gives and God takes away. God gave Imran Khan and then He took it away. And He took it away because Imran Bhai made a lot of mistakes. And he should accept those mistakes,” said Afridi.
“If he accepts those mistakes, he will be able to create a good political party and come back stronger. I’ve always thought Imran Khan’s vision has been superb. It’s the vision of a leader. But to implement a vision, you need a team and he doesn’t have that team,” he criticised.
“The people he had were sidelined. Why were they sidelined? What things happened that Imran Bhai could improve? I feel like you should never leave the ground and for him, the ground is parliament. He should never leave parliament. After leaving it, you’re again coming out on the streets and on top of containers. Why are you doing this, friend?” he asked.
Once the video of his comments was uploaded online, it went viral, inviting a lot of criticism and hate from supporters of the former premier.
Earlier the Yeh Na Thi Hamari Kismat star shared his take on the new government’s decision to rescind the 10% increase on paycheck. He took to Instagram to share his stance.
Meanwhile actress Ayesha Omar liked his statement on a portal’s feed, showing her agreement.
While interacting with the media after his victory, the Prime Minister-elect announces 10% raise in salaries for those government employees who are receiving pay up to Rs100,000 per month. He also announces to jack up pension of retired civil, and military officials by 10% from April 1. Meanwhile, he also announces to increase the minimum wage of workers to Rs. 25,000 per month.
