The first Pakistan International Screen Awards (PISA) are being held in Dubai Friday night. The organisers have gathered pretty much the entire entertainment industry and flown them to Dubai for the event. However, turns out that several nominees have been neglected and not given their due respect.

Among those is Osman Khalid Butt, Saqib Malik, Bulbulay actor Nabeel Zafar and Suno Chanda‘s Nadia Afgan. According to these celebrities, they were nominated and invited for the event but the management bailed on them at the last minute leaving them hanging.

In a social media post, Nabeel recounted how he was nominated for an award and invited to the event by the organisers through their PR company. He said that the organisers requested him to submit his documents only to vanish.

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Nabeel regretted that his name was used to promote the event and attract audiences.

“To all the people who are expecting us in Dubai, let me categorically inform you all that I will not be a part of the show.”

Osman Khalid Butt had a similar story to share though he did not go into details.

Nadia Afgan who was also nominated for her “outstanding work as an actress in a comedy role” also shared her story in an Instagram post. She also shared screenshots of her conversation with the organisers of the event.

View this post on Instagram

So people here is my story. As an Artist who has been working in the showbiz industry for 22 years i have seen many things. But after what #PISAAWARDS2020 did to me and many of my esteemed colleagues i can now say, I HAVE SEEN EVERYTHING. I am saddened by the behavior of these people and i feel insulted. I did not ask to be a part of these awards, i did not ask to be invited. When the PR Bodybeat team contacted me i was happily doing my work in bahawalpur. They insisted that i should send them all the necessary documents immediately. I had to move my shoot dates. I had never imagined that I would be treated in such a manner. I felt honored to be nominated. I posted on social media and received such wonderful messages from my Pakistani and Indian fans in Dubai. I feel that #pisawards2020 used my name to promote their event. They lied and left me and many other actors hanging for no apparent reason, infact they completely vanished. They were very unprofessional and did not care about how this would effect us. I feel that my name was used for promotions, my time was wasted and that i was wronged. The messaged i received today from one of the coordinators was this: "Im sorry i can personally apologize but woh ticket nahi day rahay aur sirf ap he nahi 100 celebrities aur bhi hain jin k sath yeh howa hai." I laughed out loud, actually felt sorry for the guy! My question is who are these people, why would they do this and what is the point of nominating someone when you don't actually intend have them there at the event! #pisawards2020 #khaleejtimes #cococolaarenadubai #liars #unprofessionalpeople #bodybeateventmangement @nabeelzafar7 @tipudiary #hinadilpazir @ahmedaliakbarofficial @aclockworkobi @jodi_pai @malik33saqib

A post shared by Nadia Afgan (@nadiaafgan) on

“I feel like if you’re not an Insta star you’re not an Insta star. Aap jitni bhi mehnat karley aap jitney bhi achay actor hoon (No matter how hard you work , how good of an actor you are) its no use if you’re treated like this,” Afgan said while speaking to a local media outlet, adding that she had even gotten her dress made for the event.

Usman Mukhtar also slammed the organisers for promoting the event by using his videos even though he asked them to remove them as he wouldn’t be part of the event.

Ali Safina also slammed the award show and the organisers in a Facebook post.

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A few weeks back I got informed about my nomination in the ‘best actor in a comedy role’ category of an award show…

Posted by Ali Safina on Friday, February 7, 2020

Several actors including Sanam Saeed, Tara Mehmood, Bilal Ashraf and Aijaz Aslam lauded Safina for speaking up against the organisers behaviour.

PISA had earlier also misled audiences by announcing that Mahira Khan will be performing at the award show. However, Mahira clarified this on Twitter saying that she will only be attending the event.

Earlier, the organisers of the award show had flown a handful of celebrities to Dubai in a private jet, pictures of which had gone viral on social media.

Meanwhile, other celebrities who will be attending the event include Meera, Ali Zafar, Mahira Khan, Sheheryar Munawar, Strings, Adnan Siddiqui, Humayun Saeed, Hira Mani, Aima Baig, Zara Noor Abbas, Ayesha Omar, Sarwat Gilani and Hareem Farooq among others.