Rise above politics: Mehwish Hayat disappointed by Bollywood’s deafening silence on Pakistan floods

Pakistan is facing the most alarming impacts of climate change with its torrential rains and melting glaciers flooding more than 1/3rd of the country with parts of Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh drowning underwater. To generate funds and lend their support, artists, celebrities and public figures have globally taken to their social media channels and raised awareness regarding the calamity.

However, there has been a “deafening” silence among Bollywood celebrities and actor Mehwish Hayat is “disappointed” by their lack of empathy. Calling the industry out for negligent support or care for their fans in Pakistan, the Ms Marvel actor urged actors and celebrities from across the border to “rise above politics” and show some care for the destruction caused here.

On Saturday, the London Nahi Jaunga actor, who’s actively raising awareness to generate funds for victims, took to her Instagram stories to share a note by BBC journalist Haroon Rashid and shared her two cents on it.

“The silence from the Bollywood fraternity is deafening. ‘Suffering knows no nationality, race or religion’ – no better time for them to show us that they can rise above nationalist politics and care about their fans in Pakistan. We are hurting and a kind word or two would not go amiss,” she wrote in agreement with  Rashid's tweet.

Rashid's original post on Twitter, shared widely by Pakistani celebrities, emphasised how “popular” Indian stars are and how they’re aware of the following they have across the world and yet chose to remain silent on the matter.

“I genuinely thought humanity knows no borders but it’s telling that hardly any Bollywood stars have posted about the devastating floods in Pakistan – raise awareness, share links, just show sympathy. They know how popular they are and how much that acknowledgement would mean,” read his tweet.

Earlier, Hayat had shared a video in collaboration with Penny Appeal – a Muslim charity organization providing aid to people in over 30 crisis-hit countries – to make an urgent appeal for flood victims in Pakistan. Her video was also shared by popular Indian rapper Hirdesh Singh, who goes by the alias Yo Yo Honey Singh. “Big up!” Hirdesh wrote on his Instagram Stories tagging her.

Wanting to do more than simply tweet about a calamity that has left 50 million homeless, she also appeared on Sky News and BBC to inform the global audience about the devastation caused by the climate crisis at home.

International celebs including the likes of Bella Hadid, Poorna Jagannathan, Jemima Goldsmith, and Riz Ahmed among others have also shared posts about the floods while sharing and asking for links to donate money to those in dire need of it. 

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