'Will ask Pak PM to improve ties with India'

Inspired by the Gandhian activist, Pakistani singer-actor Adnan Sami says he wants both countries to unite in fighting challenges of terrorism and corruption

It's not just IT professionals, housewives and students Anna Hazare is inspiring. The anti-corruption icon has a new follower in musician and actor Adnan Sami who has planned to join Akhil Bhartiya Muslim Yuva Atankwad Virodhi Samiti (ABMYAVS), a non-political organisation, as the All India Secretary-General. Sami will be in the Capital on Thursday at a west Delhi star-rated property to make the announcement.


Rhythm divine: Samiu00a0says only young leaders from the two countries
can bridge the divide. file pic

"So far I was busy with my work. But recently I met Anna for four hours and was very inspired. I felt I should also do something," said Sami. So when the musician-actor was approached by Mohd. Shakeel Saifi, chairman of ABMYAVS on August 16 to join the organisation, he immediately gave his go ahead. "It would be an honour for me to be of any service as a human being and good Muslim to join the cause of anti- terrorism," Sami wrote in his letter dated August 17.


Centre stage: Adnan Sami and Kailash Kher with Hazare on the sets
of a TV show.

'Soft targets'
So what made Saifi think of Sami as an anti-terrorism mascot? "Whenever there is a terrorist attack, people consider Muslims or Pakistanis to be behind it. I want both countries to unite and fight terrorism so I contacted Adnan and he accepted it," said Saifi.

"Both India and Pakistan are victims of terrorism and corruption. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gilani, is a friend. So I thought why not start this initiative in Pakistan as well," added Sami. Sami also plans to take a delegation to Pakistan in this regard. Originally from Pakistan, the musician-actor has been living in India for more than a decade and has made Mumbai his home. One of his dreams now is to end the chasm between the two neighbouring countries. "There is a gap between both the nations. I want to end that. This is why I have joined this organisation. I will meet the Pakistan PM and ask him to take an initiative in trying to improve ties with India," explained Sami.

Incidentally, the musician-actor's father was the Chief Protocol Officer to the slain former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto at the time when then PM Rajiv Gandhi had visited the neighbouring country with wife Sonia. Sami claims to have been very influenced by Rajiv. "When Rajiv and Benazir had met, there was hope that both the countries would come closer. They were the last leaders in the subcontinent to have given such hope," said Sami.

Leadership crisis!
But all that hope, he says, is now gone. "Right now there is no such leader who brings such hope. It is only when young leaders will come up in both the countries that things will change and relationships will improve because they want development," said the singer. Sami pins his hope on the youth. "It is because of the youth support that Anna Hazare's movement is so successful," he claimed.

He has a lot of dreams regarding the two neighbours. "I want the India-Pakistan relationship to be like that of the US and Canada. Or even India and England. Even though England ruled India for so long, now they are friends. What I want is for an Indian to be able to drive down to Lahore to have lazeez kebabs in the evening and at the same time a Pakistani to be able to come down and have kulfi and naan in Amritsar," he pointed out.

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