DUBAI: Lyari-based musicians the Baluch Twins have accused the Pakistan International Screen Awards (PISA) of discriminating against them by cancelling their plane tickets to Dubai.
In a video posted on Instagram, the musicians narrated that how they were not allowed to board the plane taking all the participants and nominees of PISA awards to Dubai for the ceremony that was to be held on Friday evening.
Adil and Asim Baluch, aka the Baluch Twins, were nominated in the Singer of the Year category for their song Tazn Teehar. The twins, in the video, spoke of the unbelievable anguish and pain this experience brought to them and their family and how this unprofessional attitude was nothing but ‘discriminatory’.
According to the post, they had been unable to board the flight because their “tickets were deliberately refunded” by the organisers. “The coordination team misinformed us about cancellation,” said the Baluch Twins. They didn’t hear back from the organisers despite being promised that the problems would be resolved.
The Baluch Twins still arrived at the airport on November 4 and had their coronavirus tests done, but they were not allowed to board the flight as their tickets had been “deliberately refunded”.
The performers added that they have been left “traumatised and shattered”. “We believe this was done deliberately by PISA’s team. It is highly unethical. They kept on ignoring our messages even after reading them, all of this was unreasonable,” they added.
Adil and Asim Baluch rose to fame after their song ‘Gharoli-Ghoom Charakhra’ on Nescafé Basement became a hit. Their music means to give importance to Baluchi music, which according to brothers, is not yet part of the mainstream music industry.
The PISA awards were held at the Madinat Jumeirah Arena in Dubai on Friday. It was attended by big names from television, fashion and social media.
This isn’t the first time controversy has shrouded the PISA Awards. In 2020, the awards came under severe criticism for what PISA described as “teething issues”.
They ghosted a number of celebrities like Osman Khalid Butt, Usman Mukhtar, Ali Safina, director Saqib Malik, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Teepu Sharif, Nabeel Zafar and Nadia Afghan after inviting them to Dubai for the show.
The celebrities said they were initially invited by PISA and nominated in various categories, however, the organisers simply disappeared before the show.
