Wonder what you're after: Armeena hits back at Shaniera as latter persistently calls out Resham
After days of online bickering and bullying, Resham has shared a video of herself apologizing to the nation for her plastic dumping fiasco, this time, without offering any justifications.
Taking to her Instagram on Wednesday, the actor said in a clip, “First of all, please accept my apology because what happened shouldn’t have happened. It happened because of my carelessness and was not intentional. For that, I apologise to the entire nation.”
She went on to clarify, “I am against littering, polluting, and agree that keeping our country clean is our responsibility. I’m also human and every human makes mistakes, this was mine.” Going on to dub it the “biggest mistake” of her career, Resham vowed that she would ensure nothing similar ever transpires again. She concluded her video with an apology from the “bottom of my heart.”
Resham has been trending on Twitter since Monday, with a clip of her dumping plastic into floodwater doing the rounds. Many have been calling her out for her reckless endeavour to feed the fish, while littering on camera, despite being a public figure – and an educated one at that.
From asking officials to charge her for this “criminal offence” to schooling her about the irreparable consequences of her “kindness,” people have been flooding to the micro-blogging site to bring attention to her “good deed.”
Among the advocates for climate change taken aback by Resham’s doing, was Shaniera Akram, who has been actively condemning her counterproductive attempt to salvage marine life. But actor Armeena Khan, who also tweeted against “throwing plastic into rivers and oceans” after Resham’s video surfaced – without mentioning any names – isn’t happy with Shaniera’s persistent tweeting against Resham.
When a user asked the activist, “I don't understand whether you’re angry because she threw meat and plastic into the river or because she threw meat and plastic into the river on camera,” Shaniera clarified, “Both! It's doing my head in.”
Retweeting her response, Armeena wrote, “Punching down again eh, Shaniera? Imagine tweeting three times successively within in a course 12 hours for someone whom you know can’t attack back. I wonder what you’re really after.”
In another tweet, Armeena asserted, “There is never a need to bring one woman down to elevate the other. People are complicated and we all have shades of grey. Let’s start with that. No one here is perfect.” She did not tag or mention any names. A third tweet of hers read: “My Grandma (God bless her soul) used to say: ‘Chotay bartan mein ziada parh jaye tow uss sey sambhala nahi jaata.’ Applicable to all loud mouth, virtue signaling, with a holier than thou attitude bullies.”
Armeena had also asked her followers, “At what point do we forgive someone? And at what point does it become bullying? Your thoughts?” A user replied, “Bullying is if we retaliate in excess.” Armeena commented, “Three tweets in a row constitutes as bullying to me,” with a smiling emoji.
Prior to her response to the user, Shaniera had shared Resham’s video tweeting, “My eyes! My brain!” with exasperated emojis. She then inquired, “Who throws meat and plastic rubbish in to a flood and disease affected river? On Camera! And thinks they are doing a good thing? I'm so lost…”
A follow-up tweet read: “Especially when Pakistan is currently suffering extreme effects of climate change, it was very concerning to watch actress Resham ignorantly throwing plastic into a river. But seeing so many people get offended by her actions makes me believe the future of Pakistan is in good hands!”
Resham’s viral video saw her throwing meat and bread from the top of a flyover overlooking a large water body to feed the marine life. Alongside food for the fishes, she threw in polythene bags, wrappers and plastic utensils as well. The video was picked up by bloggers lauding her for her “kindness” until several pointed out how catastrophic her actions could be for the aqua world. While the clip was temporarily removed from various platforms, Resham offered a justification for her actions.
In response to the flak that she’s garnered on Twitter, among other social media apps, Resham, on Tuesday, contested that there were more alarming issues to worry about. “I admit to having made a mistake by dumping plastic into the flood water but women are gang raped everyday,” The Friday Times quoted her as saying.
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