Daily Times

Pakistan’s renowned actor Bushra Ansari issued a clarification after she faced severe backlash for claiming that her father had allegedly refused a bribe from a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader.

Speaking during the 16th Aalmi Urdu Conference at Arts Council Karachi, Bushra shared a story from her past about her father, Ahmad Bashir, saying he was allegedly offered a bribe on behalf of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, without naming the party.

In a video which has gone viral on social media, Bushra recalled someone had visited her father. “We started hearing my father verbally abusing. I cannot name them because he has just come back.”

She recalled that her father angrily said, “He came to give me a lifafa [bribe].”

Bushra’s father, Ahmad Bashir, was a noted journalist, intellectual and writer. He died on December 25, 2004, in Lahore.

Following the criticism, Bushra shared a video on her Instagram saying that whatever she said was true, however, people made a big deal out of it.

“The thing is, Nawaz Sharif may not have sent that person to my father. There are many people in the party and they [make their own decisions]. However, a person from PML-N had offered a bribe to my father. I did not say that Nawaz Sharif had sent him,” the actor clarified.

The 67-year-old said that she does not like singling out any party or its leader, be it Asif Ali Zardari, Imran Khan, Shehbaz Sharif or Nawaz Sharif.