The wheel of social media continues its relentless grind, seeking fresh grist for its mill, sparing none, not even the mother of a three-month-old baby, just because she happens to be an Indian tennis star married to a Pakistani. Mirza has always been trolled every time relations between India and Pakistan take a hit.
This is yet another occasion when her nationality has been called into question, this time on the nature of her response to the February 14 Pulwama attack, in which 50 CRPF jawans were killed by a suicide bomber.
She had tweeted on that day: “Saddened at the attack on our CRPF soldiers in #Pulawama… My sincere condolences to the families…There is no place for terrorism in the world…Prayers for peace” Then, on February 17, she posted a heartfelt note on the tragedy:
“This post is for those people who think that as celebrities we need to ‘condemn’ an attack, tweet and Instagram and be all over social media to prove that we are patriotic and care about our country…why?? Because we are celebs and some of you are frustrated individuals who have nowhere else to target your anger and grab every opportunity to spread more hate??I don’t need to condemn an attack publicly, or come and scream from roof tops or all over social media that we are against terrorism.
Of course, we are against terrorism and anyone that spreads it. Any person in his right frame of mind is against terrorism and if they are not then that’s a problem! I play for my country, sweat for it and that’s how I serve my country. I stand with the CRPF jawans and their families, my heart goes out to them and they are our true heroes who protect our country.
14th February was a black day for India and I hope we never have to see another day like this, no amount of condolences can make any of this better. This day will not be forgotten and neither shall it be forgiven but YES I will stay and pray for peace and you should too instead of spreading more hate.
Anger is good as long as it’s being channelled into something productive. You are achieving nothing by trolling other people. There was no place for terrorism in this world and there never will be. Find your way to serve the nation instead of sitting and swearing and judging public figures by how many posts they have posted about the tragedy! Do your bit and we are doing our bit without announcing on social media! Yes that’s a thing too.
Prayers and peace,” she ended. But evidently, this was not enough. She was trolled for not naming Pakistan in her note. “Madam, a very smartly penned article about terrorism but sorry to say you omitted Pakistan’s name in this whole clarification.
Why not throw some light on the Terror factory Pakistan?” was one of the retorts Sania’s post elicited. “Ma’am, u r right but in your letter u didn’t mention anything against Pakistan. We r not questioning ur patriotism but what about Pak. U wrote such a big letter but was there no space for 7 letters – Pakistan ????”, another insistently pointed out.
“But you can’t say anything about Pakistan’s support behind this attack…Pakistan’s support to terrorism…Why..?” “Had u named Pakistan, it would have been great.U have mentioned “there’s no place for terrorism” but there exists a nation named Pakistan where terrorism is a religion…Chaliye koi baat nahin. Aur 2-4 line b likh lijiye dikhane ko” In 2018, before the Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan, Mirza had been forced to take a break from social media.
Because of the toxic remarks she was served with during the match and the negativity was too much for the then mom-to-be. Earlier last year, she was taunted about Independence Day on August 14 and she had chastised the troll, saying it was the day her husband’s country observed I-Day and that for her and her country, it was the following day.
