The artist community has finally broken silence after sad demise of Amjad Sabri and they have demanded better security from the government.
Actor and host Fakhr-e-Alam has taken lead in this context.
In an open letter to the government, Fakhr-e-Alam has pointed out its unequal treatment of its citizens. The artist community has united to stand up against this inequality with hashtags #PakistanArtistsUnite and #EqualSafetyforAll.
He began the letter saying, “The entire artist community is immensely sad and outraged about the martyrdom of Amjad Sabri, and has come to the realisation that there is no one to protect us.”
He continues, “The problem is, when we raised this question in front of the government, VIPs and higher officials, as to why they receive top-notch security but [artists] don’t, the answer we’ve received is that they are well-known and can be shot anywhere, which is why they have bullet proof cars and police escorts.”
In the video that was uploaded on social media, where he talked about the discrimination done to the citizens, Fakhr-e-Alam was joined by fellow artists like Faysal Quraishi, Faakhir, Maria Wasti and Tipu Sharif.
The group of artists continued saying, “The burial of Amjad Sabri, attended by thousands, proves that he too was a high profile artist. So, my colleagues who stand with me and many more artists who are not present, we [would like to say that we] are also high profile and there is no difference between you and us.”
“Since we’re also high profile, we also come on TV and more people know us than you, please provide us with the same bulletproof cars and the same police mobiles that follow you — with the taxpayers money — we all demand to be given the same security,” the stars urged.
They continued saying, “And if that is not possible, then you should return your bullet proof cars and your security personnel to the government, so that we [artists] are at peace that both of us are equally vulnerable on the streets of Karachi.”
He closes his statement stating, “If you fail to do this, then we will multiply our force and we will bring together the media and our fellow artists and take action against it.”
“So our request to you is, that either we are all provided with equal security or equal vulnerability because we are all Pakistani citizens and all our lives are equally important,” he concluded.
Let’s hope the government takes their request into consideration this time.
