Humaira Arshad rebuts husband's accusations

LAHORE: Pop singer Humaira Arshad on Tuesday refuted allegations leveled against her by husband Ahmed Butt, and instead accused him of deceit, domestic violence and attempts to kidnap her four-year-old son.

At a press conference in Lahore, Humaira said she had been married to Butt for 12 years but the two had recently fallen out and were now separated.

She claimed that Butt had threatened her that he would tarnish her image in the media, take away her son and throw acid on her.

“He kept my four-year-old son away from me for four days, and threatened that he would kill anyone who attempts to take him,” she said.

In response to Butt's allegations that Humaira was doing this to gain American nationality, she said that she could easily immigrate to the US if she wanted to.

"I do not want US immigration. My son is a US national because he was born there. But I used to go to the US even before I had a child. I am an artist. If I wanted to get US nationality, I could have done so a long time ago," she said.

In response to Butt's appeal to Punjab chief minister for protection from his wife, Humaira claimed that it was in fact her who needed protection from her husband.

She claimed that her husband had physically abused and beaten her in front of her neighbours.

"He locked me up in the house for days, and he beat me for three days. Our neighbours are witness to the fact that he slapped me outside the house and pulled me by the hair," she said.

She said that Butt does not own any of the properties that he claims she illegaly transferred to Sakhi Sarwar, a businessman in the local media industry whose company has a contract with the singer.

She formally announced that she and her husband were now separated and that her family would advise her on how to proceed forward with the case.