LAHORE (Staff Report) – In a bid to capitalize on the social media storm following the scandalous meeting between Qandeel Baloch and Mufti Abdul Qavi in a Karachi hotel, a private TV channel paid an actor to impersonate the Mufti and profess his love for the scandal queen during a staged “interview”.
The staged interview was broadcast during a live transmission of Neo TV.
Related: What really happened when Mufti Abdul Qavi broke his fast with Qandeel Baloch in a hotel?
During the interview, the fake Mufti said his meeting with Qandeel was purely incidental and was held in the presence of several people other than Qandeel Baloch. This claim was later refuted by the real Mufti Abdul Qavi during an interview with another private TV channel.
When asked if he was intentionally inviting criticism by meeting the controversial Qandeel, the imposter maintained that there was nothing wrong in posing for a photograph with anybody, including Qandeel Baloch. “Every popular person has a fan following. I too have many followers and people should not have any problem with this,” he said.
The imposter also suggested that he did not care much for the controversy his meeting with Qandeel had caused, saying that people in Pakistan could be offended by anything.
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Rather, he added that his chief concerns revolved around one person: “Perhaps, I’m interested in marrying her (Baloch) in the future, and even if I have extended my proposal in this way it should not be a problem for people.”
At the end of the call, the fake Mufti said: “Today I am proposing to her (Baloch) in front of the whole world, even though she has not replied to my previous proposal.”
The imposter, however, did not let Qandeel’s non-committal response dampen his spirits. “If Qandeel Baloch is not, are you available for marriage?” he asked the anchor interviewing him innocently.
Later on, the real Mufti Abdul Qavi provided a completely different version of events, casting doubt on the impersonator’s account.
Read more: Mufti Abdul Qavi and Qandeel Baloch disagree on what really happened between them in Karachi hotel
Neo TV, the channel which broadcast the staged interview, has still not commented on the incident. However, in footage of the interview (see below) the so-called Mufti sounds markedly different than he does in other TV appearances.
PEMRA, the federal government’s electronic media watchdog, has yet to take notice of the incident. The authority has been extremely active in recent times, banning TV serials, contraceptive advertisements and TV celebrities like Hamza Ali Abbasi.
