Pakistani internet is amused with the bizarre statement of Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah regarding Sindhi no longer being spoken in Pakistan.
During a recent interview on Tried & Refused Productions’ YouTube channel with Anmol Jamwal, acclaimed Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah discussed various topics such as the portrayal of the Mughal Empire today, his role in Taj: Divided by Blood on ZEE5, his fondness for Urdu, his acting influences, and his plans.
However, Shah unintentionally found himself in a controversy when he made a comment that seemed to underestimate the presence of the Sindhi language in Pakistan. In his passionate discussion about preserving the Urdu language as a part of Indian history, he mistakenly stated that no one speaks Sindhi in Pakistan anymore.
yes we are extinct. I am tweeting from the burial mounds of Moenjodaro. The Indus river dried up a millenia ago. Sindhi is no longer spoken in Pakistan, it is all Chinese and Urdlish https://t.co/FeIcQNQgo7
— ᛓᛆᛚᛁᛌᛐᛁᚿᛁ 🇵🇸 (@okayysorryy) June 6, 2023
The host asked the actor about the declining interest in the Urdu language in India and the need for more education in India regarding its origin and use. The comment on the Sindhi language came in between the discussion of various regional languages in Pakistan and India.
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“I believe in some universities, it is actually classified as a foreign language,” began Shah. He described it as “absurd.” He stated, “I ask my students, ‘Can you name another country in the world where Urdu is spoken?’ Apart from Pakistan? Where there are hundreds of other languages. Punjabi is spoken more widely than Urdu. Then they have Balochi, they have Dari, they have Seraiki, and they have Pashto. Sindhi, of course, is no longer spoken in Pakistan.”
As a proud Sindhi who speaks the language within her household, I beg to differ. https://t.co/6XXWaUXRtv
— Mansha Pasha (@manshapasha) June 6, 2023
Come to Sindh Sir and let us prove you Wrong
I wonder where he got this idea that Sindhi is no longer spoken in Pakistan https://t.co/HGmUopryeR— Dewan Sachal (@essel1) June 6, 2023
His ill-informed statements on Pakistan did not go well with the Pakistani netizens. Soon internet was brimmed with interesting comments and memes on Naseeruddin Shah’s statements and the Sindhi language’s presence in Pakistan.
A Twitter taking the hilarious dig said, “Yes, we are extinct. I am tweeting from the burial mounds of Mohenjodaro. The Indus River dried up a [millennium] ago. Sindhi is no longer spoken in Pakistan, it is all Chinese and Urdlish.”
Another Twitter user extended an invitation to Naseeruddin Shah to visit Pakistan. “Come to Sindh, sir and let us prove you wrong. I wonder where he got this idea that Sindhi is no longer spoken in Pakistan?” the user said in his tweet.