Three Bannu men admit mistake for trivializing coronavirus

PESHAWAR: The three men from Bannu district who joined hands recently to compose and sing a poem in Pashto to describe the coronavirus as a fraud have now admitted their mistake and sought forgiveness from the people and the district administration.

The bearded men, including a cleric, were taken into custody by the police after the video went viral and attracted attention among the Pashto-speaking population. Their pictures behind the bars in Bannu were also shared on the social media.

A number of people had reportedly complained to the Bannu deputy commissioner and the police against the video and demanded action against these men as it trivialized the grave threat posed by the COVID-19.

The new Pashto language video shows the three men, embarrassed after their unexpected arrest, sitting seriously while recording the message. It is completely different from their previous video in which they were looking cheerful while singing the poem and making fun of the coronavirus by terming it a fraud and asking the people to beware of it.

All three are young but the oldest among them in the new video footage says they recorded the poem when the coronavirus hadn’t spread in our area and they were unaware of the threat posed by it. “Now we know coronavirus is a disease and is a reality as it is spreading in Pakistan and all over the world. We were clearly at fault and we now urge the people to take care and protect themselves from coronavirus,” he adds sheepishly.