Veena Malik: Accident or attack?

Veena Malik stable after car crash.

LAHORE:

It’s a bad time for Pakistani showbiz stars to be on the road. First it was popular singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who met with a road accident when he was on his way to Chicago from Detroit about a week ago, and now it’s one of Pakistan’s most vocal and bold actor’s Veena Malik, who has been injured in a car crash on her way to Lahore from Islamabad.

Veena Malik was coming to Lahore after meeting her family in Islamabad on Monday night, when she had an accident some eight kilometres away from Thokar Niaz Beg. Malik has suffered injuries on her shoulder, arms and legs and is in a hospital in Lahore. “She is out of danger and her condition is stable now,” a source close to actor quoted her mother as saying.

According to Malik’s manager, Sohail Rashid, she was driving the car while there were four other people in the car when the accident happened. “There were two guards, and two other people with her, while she was driving herself. A speeding vehicle overtook Veena Malik’s car, hit its side door and raced off. The car went  off balance and collided,” Rashid said.

A boy who was sitting on the front seat with Veena Malik said: “It seemed as if they deliberately hit our car. We couldn’t see their faces. They hit us, and saw our car colliding. They would have stopped had they hit us by mistake.”

Malik lost consciousness, and was taken to the hospital. “The family doesn’t want to disclose her location right now for security concerns. Doctors say she is stable and will be discharged soon, but they have advised rest as she has suffered a mental shock,” Rashid told The Express Tribune.

Malik, who often travels in a black Prado, was travelling in  different car when the accident happened. “Due to security concerns, Veena Malik wasn’t using her Prado as many people recognised,” Rashid said.

Malik was set to travel to Norway to participate in The Oslo Freedom Forum, a unique global affairs conference that take place in Norway every year. This year, some 200 people who have changed, are changing or could change the world have been invited at the event from across the globe. Previously, Mukhtara Mia from Pakistan has been invited to be at the event. Malik, however, couldn’t go to the event due to her packed schedule.

“The doctors are hopeful that she will be discharged in a day. She will take some rest, and then announce her plans herself,” a family source told The Express Tribune.

When asked, Rashid said they would lodge an FIR of the incident. However, they  are first waiting for Veena Malik to recover. “We will surely lodge a case, but first Veena should recover. She is out of danger and stable, but doctors have instructed her to rest for sometime. If someone has deliberately hit the car, then surely we are going to register the case accordingly,” he said.

Veena Malik became famous after her participation in Indian TV show “Big Boss”. Her strong stance against clerics won her more applause and popularity, both in India and Pakistan.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2011.