PESHAWAR: Pakistan denounced the Afghan diplomat’s “reprehensible disrespect” for the national song of his country by choosing to stay seated during its Tuesday performance at a government function in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The decision caused a stir on social media and in traditional media.
But the Afghan consulate played the incident down, saying that the envoy stayed seated because there was “music in the anthem.”
Music is among the numerous artistic disciplines that are prohibited under the hard-line Afghan Taliban leadership in Kabul. When the Taliban seized power more than two years ago, their contempt for artists forced many singers, musicians, and other artists to leave the nation.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, stated on Tuesday that it was improper to show such “disrespect” for the national anthem of the host nation.
She released a statement saying, “We are conveying our strong protest to the Afghan authorities both in Islamabad and Kabul.”
Shahidullah, the spokesperson for the Afghan consulate general, on the other hand, emphasized that “we cannot even think about disrespecting Pakistan’s national anthem.”
“Only because the national anthem contains music did the diplomat [Mohibullah Shakir, the general consul of Afghanistan in Peshawar] stay seated,” Shahidullah said to Dawn on Wednesday.
He remarked, “Imagine a religious scholar advocating for music.”
Chief Minister of KP Ali Amin Khan Gandapur accepted the explanation provided by the ambassador.
