Indian revered actor, Naseeruddin Shah, issued an apology to the “Sindhi speaking population” in Pakistan after his tone deaf and “ignorant” remarks surfaced on the internet, and offended many Pakistanis. Shah’s false claims regarding the local language and its consequential scrutiny prompted the Dirty Picture actor to apologize and quip about not being an intellectual individual.
Accepting the fact that he was rather ‘’ill- informed,’’ the actor stated in a Facebook post,”OK OK I apologise to the entire Sindhi-speaking population of Pakistan who I seem to have deeply offended by my mistaken opinion.”
“I admit I was ill informed but is it necessary to crucify me for that? “Let him who is free from…” as Jesus said,” said Shah.
At the end, Shah quipped that he was “quite enjoying” for being labelled as a “pretend intellectual.”
“Actually I’m quite enjoying being called ‘ignorant’ and ‘pretend intellectual’ after many years of being mistaken for an intelligent person. It’s quite a change!” he remarked.
The misinformed statement was made by Shah while he was speaking at a promotional interview of his latest television series, Taj.
The actor claimed, “They [Pakistan] have Balochi, they have Bari, they have Siraiki and they have Pushto. Sindhi is, of course, no longer spoken in Pakistan.”
The comments enraged the Pakistani community as the claim is far from reality. Not only social media users but Pakistani actress Mansha Pasha also jumped in to defend sanctity of the supposedly dead language, according to Shah.
“As a proud Sindhi who speaks the language within her household, I beg to differ,” Pasha stated.
Naseeruddin Shah stands corrected on remarks about use of Sindhi language in Pakistan
