Refugees are innocent and vulnerable: Mahira Khan

KARACHI: Actor and UN Goodwill Ambassador Mahira Khan shared a video and tweet lending her support to refugees on World Refugee Day.

Read: Refugee crisis in numbers

“They’ve been denied a home… but we haven’t denied them hope. Pakistan has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees over several years and continues to do so, we have given them a home within our motherland,” Khan tweeted.

In a video attached to the tweet, the actor said that the refugees are victims of war and terrorism. They have suffered, loss and displacement.”
She went on to say that “when refugees of Makkah were welcomed byu the Ansar of Madina with an open heart, the tradition of brotherhood and solidarity came alive,” adding that Pakistan has kept these traditions alive.

“These people are innocent and vulnerable; they are like you and me,” she said.

Khan also shared statistics regarding refugees and invited people to join her in the UNHCR campaign.

“More than 70 million people were forced to flee in 2018. That’s one person every two seconds who have been denied a home. Please join me and take a #stepwithrefugees”.

Anyone can take part in the UNHCR campaign which has initiated a challenge to “walk, run, dance, swim 1 km/mile or take any step with refugees.”

More details here: https://www.unhcr.org/refugeeday/

Read: 7 times Mahira Khan proved she is Pakistan’s ‘baddest beti’

In 2018, Khan met Afghan refugees living in cities like Karachi and Nowshera. In a heartfelt message on her Instagram account, the Ho Mann Jahan actor implored people to have empathy towards refugees.

“We must care because more than half of the refugees are kids. A lot of them came unaccompanied, without their mothers or fathers… a lot of them were even born here. They are our future, every child in the world is,” she said.