Actor Sabeena Farooq wants to know if public servants should stop doing their jobs if they don’t subscribe to the politics of whoever is in power.
Her question was in response to a video of former TV host and newly-minted politician Iqrar ul Hassan confronting an immigration officer he claims pointed at him while he was in line at Lahore airport and said, “He’ll be ridiculed like Jawad Ahmed.” He was referring to the popular singer who launched an unsuccessful stint in electoral politics in 2019.
In an Instagram story shared on Monday, Farooq questioned if Hassan wanted all government servants who didn’t vote for the government to “sit at home,” or did he want them to “worship whoever was in power”?
She asked if the United States government had stopped running because its workers didn’t like President Donald Trump and whether people stopped having the right to hold opinions because they were working for the state.
The actor said Hassan was one of the people “who preach peace and calm in Ramazan” and asked if this is how the TV host chose to use what “little power and fame” he had acquired.
“Whatever someone said to their colleague, what is it to you?” she asked, calling Hassan’s behaviour “unacceptable” under any circumstances.
She ended her note saying real men don’t yell at people and spit on their faces, but instead have the ability to express themselves gently. She also rolled her eyes at “privileged Pakistanis”.
In the video Farooq was reacting to, Hassan can be seen yelling at an official of the Federal Investigation Agency working at the airport’s immigration desk. “The uniform you’re standing in, you work for the state. If you’re such a revolutionary, resign,” he said.
The officer in turn told the host, “Sir, I wasn’t talking to you” and asked him not to create a scene and film it for public consumption.
Hassan continued to berate the immigration official, telling him to “act like the son of a man” and “swear to God and the Prophet” that he hadn’t said anything. He told the official that he would “have to apologise” and asked if “I pay [your salary with] my taxes and you wear this uniform just so you can stand here and insult people?”
A small crowd appeared to have formed around the two with some passengers backing the TV personality while other immigration officers tried to de-escalate the situation.
The immigration officer eventually started walking back to his post with Hassan in pursuit. The host hurled one last cry of “shameless” before storming off.
Hassan later posted a statement on his Instagram explaining he was returning to Pakistan with his family after a trip to Malaysia on Saturday when the confrontation occurred. He said he didn’t want to post anything after the fact so as to “not threaten the officer’s job”.
He said he didn’t believe it was okay for people in uniform to be expressing political views while on duty and that he only decided to post his side of the story after he claimed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spread “misinformation” against him.
He asked the party whether or not the officer’s comments would have been okay if they were directed at a PTI leader. He also said that so many people stood with him during the incident meant they too found the officer’s comments objectionable.
