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Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra called hypocrite for ‘encouraging nuclear war’ against Pakistan
- Ayesha Malik says the actress and Unicef Goodwill Ambassador should not have ‘encouraged nuclear war against Pakistan’
- Chopra defends herself, saying she has ‘many, many friends from Pakistan’
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Actress Priyanka Chopra – a successful Bollywood actress, wife of teen dream Nick Jonas, and bestie of American royalty in Meghan, Duchess of Sussex – is no stranger to the spotlight. But on Saturday, the 37-year-old Quantico star found herself in an unfamiliar position: the hot seat.
During an appearance in Los Angeles at Beautycon, the trendy industry convention, a “fan” with a microphone asked Chopra not about her morning beauty routine but her seemingly conflicting politics.
“So it was kind of hard hearing you talk about humanity, because as your neighbour, a Pakistani, I know you’re a bit of a hypocrite,” said Ayesha Malik in a video of the incident posted to her own Twitter page.
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Malik then referred to a February tweet posted by Chopra, in which the actress wrote “Jai Hind #IndianArmedForces” during escalating military hostility between the neighbouring, nuclear-armed countries. (“Jai Hind” loosely translates to “Hail India” or “Long Live India”.)
At the time, Chopra was criticised for so publicly cheering Indian air strikes in Pakistani territory – strikes that led to retaliatory Pakistani air strikes, bringing the countries to the brink of war. India launched the strikes after an attack claimed by a Pakistan-based terrorist group killed nearly 40 soldiers in Kashmir.
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“You are a Unicef ambassador for peace, and you’re encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan. There’s no winner in this,” Malik said to Chopra, who has been a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador since 2016.
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