Actor Fahad Mustafa came out in support of former cricketer Waqar Younis and slammed the Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle in a tweet. Earlier, former cricketer, Waqar Younis had apologized for his remarks of cricketer Muhammad Rizwan offering prayer in front of the Hindu community during the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match on Sunday.
He issued an apology on his Twitter account on Monday. Waqar Younis said, “In the heat of the moment, I said something which I did not mean, which has hurt the sentiments of many.”
“I apologize for this, this was not intended at all, genuine mistake,” he wrote, adding that sports unites people “regardless of race, color or religion.”
While commenting on the victory of Pakistan against India, he said that what he most liked about the match was Muhammad Rizwan offering his prayer on the ground in front of Hindu spectators during the match break.
Its equally hard to see muslims being portrayed as terrorists in almost every Bollywood movie for the longest.. I can’t imagine how difficult and embarrassing it must be for muslims in india to watch themselves being ridiculed like that.#stophypocrisy https://t.co/hr8mdQJ4ci
— Fahad Mustafa (@fahadmustafa26) October 26, 2021
His statement instantly went viral on social media and triggered criticism from cricketers from across the border. Harsha Bhogle said that, For a person of Waqar Younis’ stature to say that watching Rizwan offering namaz in front of Hindus was very special to him, is one of the most disappointing things I have heard.”
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“A lot of us try hard to play such things down and talk up the sport and to hear this is terrible,” he said in a series of tweets shared on his official Twitter handle.
He added: “You would think that cricketers, as ambassadors of our game, would be a little more responsible. I am sure there will be an apology on the way from Waqar.”
“We need to unite the cricket world, not divide it by religion.” He has been trending top on Twitter as Indian users are voicing their disappointment over his remarks.
In response, Fahad Mustafa raised the issue of stereotyping Muslims as terrorists in Bollywood movies.
“It’s equally hard to see Muslims being portrayed as terrorists in almost every Bollywood movie for the longest. I can’t imagine how difficult and embarrassing it must be for Muslims in India to watch themselves being ridiculed like that.#stophypocrisy,” said Fahad Mustafa while replying to Harsha Bhogle.