Nida Yasir is without a doubt controversy’s favourite child. Her morning show has sparked more controversies than you can count and the host appears to have found herself in hot water once again after she invited the family of four-year-old Marwah, who was brutally gang-raped and murdered, on her show and questioned them about the mortifying incident. Several viewers thought that Nida was insensitive in her questioning and forced the victim’s family to relive the horror. They then took to social media to express their distaste and outrage over the matter. As the clips from the show began to circulate on social media, users started calling for a boycott of Nida and her show and demanded PEMRA to take notice.
Following the outrage, Nida posted an apology video in which she responded to the backlash and explained what went on behind the scenes.
“I’ve heard a few people are upset with me over the questions I asked Marwah’s family”, said Nida.
“First of all I’d like to apologise,” said the morning show host. “If I unconsciously hurt anyone’s intentions with my words and the questions I asked Marwah’s parents.”
Nida then went onto say that her shows are planned a week in advance and that her only goal is to make sure that her viewers are entertained with her show.
She then revealed that her team did not approach Marwah’s family, but the victim’s family approached the show because they wanted media coverage and attention. She said that she cancelled whatever she had planned for the day and decided to invite them to her show.
“God is witness”, said Nida. “I did not do this for TRPs. Ours is an entertainment show, not a news show. We get ratings and TRPs on shows which have excitement in them. Such shows are depressing, even I get depressed doing them.”
“But Marwah’s needed my support at this point and I considered it my duty to invite them to my show. And you will not believe it but two days after my show, Marwah’s rapist was caught. Her family is very grateful to me. They are poor people and were in a dire state before they got some financial support because of our show,” shared Nida.
Almost close to tears, Nida further said: “I cannot return Marwah to them, but they only felt relieved once the rapist was caught.”
“In any case, I would like to apologise again if I hurt anyone. I am also a human being. I also got shocked at the revelations,” she continued.
“Please forgive me, I am a human being after all. And I hope that I will be me more careful in the future,” pleaded the host.
Later, when a social media user commented that Nida did not let “the poor mother grief for her child properly”, Nida said the lady on the show was not Marwah’s mother and urged everyone to watch the complete show before passing any judgement. It is pertinent to mention here that the lady in question was Marwah’s grandmother.
Four-year-old Marwah, a resident of Karachi, had gone to a shop on the morning of September 4 when she went missing. Two days later, her body was found from a garbage collection point in the locality. As per the latest reports, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi has remanded three suspects in police custody. The investigating officer told the court that during the course of the investigation and as per statements of witnesses, it was discovered that the minor girl was subjected to sexual assault. One of the suspects has also reportedly confessed to his crime and revealed that the minor girl died after being gang-raped.
