Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra has reiterated that she is not pro-war, clearing the air on an incident that happened in August, where a Pakistani woman had accused the actor of supporting the nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
Priyanka was severely criticised by Pakistani people on social media for a tweet following India’s February airstrike in Balakot area of Pakistan. She had tweeted, “Jai Hind #IndianArmedForces”.
Later, at an event in US, the former Miss World and Hollywood headliner was accused of being a “hypocrite” and “encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan” by a Pakistani woman named Ayesha Malik.
Priyanka was asked about the incident, which she said was “unfortunate” as she has always maintained her anti-war stance.
“A couple of things. I feel like this is not an opportune moment to talk about it. Second of all, it was unfortunate what happened, and third of all, I never have, never was, and never will be pro-war and that is in my statements itself.
“My work for all of these years is a testament to that, and I don’t feel I need to keep regurgitating it,” the 37-year-old actor said.
Pakistan had also tried to get Priyanka removed as UN Goodwill Ambassador with its Minister for Human Rights, Shireen M Mazari, sending a letter to UNICEF and accusing the actor of supporting “violations by the Modi government of international conventions and UNSC resolutions on Kashmir”.
The actor believes being an influential person is “an extremely important power” but it also comes with a “lot of responsibility”.
“It doesn’t have the responsibility that heads of states might have, because obviously we are not lawmakers or we cannot change those things, but we can influence, and I have always hoped to be able to use my influence in terms of philanthropy, and creativity in the arts, and to be able to, if I have opinions as a citizen, be able to speak about my opinions, and be able to give people perspective that they might not have seen because of my travels,” she added.
