Adnan Sami criticises ex-Pak minister for questioning his citizenship in wake of Pahalgam attack

New Delhi: Adnan Sami has called out former information and broadcasting minister of Pakistan Chaudhry Fawad Hussain after he raised questions about the singer-composer's citizenship as tensions run high in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

Terrorists struck Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 persons, most of them tourists, lost their lives earlier this week.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said all Pakistani nationals currently in India must leave the country before their visas expire.

Hussain on Saturday shared a post on X by an Indian journalist about the Centre's decision asking Pakistani nationals to leave India following the Pahalgam attack and captioned it: "What about Adnan Sami?" London-born Sami, who was granted Indian citizenship in December 2015, responded to Hussain's post, saying "Who's going to tell this illiterate idiot!!" Hussain responded to the singer's post, writing: "Our very Own Lahori Adnan Sami aisay lag rahay hein jaisey Balooon se hawa nikal chuki hooo… get well soon @AdnanSamiLive (sic)" Sami then corrected him, saying that his roots were in Peshawar and not Lahore. His father was a Pakistani Air Force veteran-diplomat and his mother was originally from Jammu and Kashmir.

"To think that you were Minister of (Mis) Information and have no knowledge of any information... And you were Minister of Science? Was that the science of BULLS**T??" he wrote in his post.

The singer-composer, known for songs such as Kabhi To Nazar Milao, Tera Chehra, Lift Kara De, and Bhar Do Jholi, first arrived in India on March 13, 2001 on a visitors visa with the validity of one year which was issued by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Sami's visa was extended from time to time. His Pakistani passport issued on May 27, 2010 expired on May 26, 2015 and his passport was not renewed by the Pakistan government which led him to approach the Indian government with the request to legalise his stay in India on humanitarian grounds.

Sami shared a post on X after the Pahalgam attack and wrote: "Innocent lives, full of hope and promise, were mercilessly snuffed out, leaving behind a trail of tears, shattered dreams, and inconsolable grief... How can humanity stoop to such depths of depravity? How can the beauty of nature be perverted to stage such horrific crimes against humanity?"