Shahid Afridi says he smashed TV set after seeing daughter imitating 'arti' scene after watching Indian show

'Arti' is associated with Hindu tradition and custom.

"I have broken the TV once. It happened due to my wife. There were a lot of these Star Plus dramas that were quite popular," he said.

"I use to tell my wife to watch it alone and not let the kids watch them. Once, I can remember that I came out of the room and saw one of my kids copying an 'aarti' scene while watching a Star Plus show. I looked at her and then smashed the TV into the wall,"  he said.

The video has gone viral online.

Netizens criticised the former Pakistan all-rounder over his remark.

One Praveen Kumar tweeted: "Shahid Afridi, a cricketer with a cult following in Pakistan bragging about how he broke his TV because his wife was watching an Indian TV serial and trying to do Arati. Watch the anchor cackle like a hyena and see the audience applaud. This is Pakistan!."

A tweet user Monica said: "Here Shahid Afridi is making fun of the Hindu ritual of Aarti and everyone’s enjoying but remember how he tweeted on the plight of Uighar muslims just two days ago and everyone forced him to delete? Islam is just an excuse to hide poverty in Pakistan."

Shahid Afridi recently tweeted and urged country's Prime Minister Imran Khan to “speak up” for Uyghur Muslims in China and requested the Chinese government to give “humane” and “just” treatment to Muslims. 

However, he surprisingly deleted the tweet later.

In his tweet, Shahid said: "Hearing of atrocities committed against the #UighurMuslims is heartbreaking. I request @ImranKhanPTI to speak up against this; talk of uniting the Muslim ummah includes our brothers & sisters in China too. @CathayPak is requested to address the humane & just treatment of Muslims."

With China a big ally of Pakistan in economic projects and in its international diplomacy against India, Imran Khan has feigned ignorance about the mass detention of Uyghurs.

He skirted the issue when asked by international media and said he has not much knowledge about the issue.

The US has earlier criticised Imran Khan for not highlighting the plight of the Uyghurs the same way he spoke about the Kashmiris.

An investigation had recently dismissed China's claim that detention camps built across Turkic Muslim, also known as Uyghurs, majority region Xinjiang are built for re-education purposes to counter extremism.

The leaked papers have revealed the systematic way in which the Beijing government is brainwashing hundreds of thousands of Muslims in a network of high-security prison camps.

The Chinese government has consistently claimed the camps in the far western Xinjiang region offer voluntary education and training.

Official documents were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which has worked with 17 media partners globally.

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