The Baluch Twins accuse the recently held PISA awards in Dubai for discrimination against them as they were denied to board claiming the flight has been cancelled by Airline.
Adil and Asim Baluch, aka the Baluch Twins, 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 Baluch Twins were one of five esteemed nominees in the Singer of the Year category.
Here is the official statement released by The Baluch Twins:-
PISA Awards 2021: The Baluch Twins official statement
We are releasing this statement on the basis of the incident happened to us. As you are aware of our Nomination in PISA Awards 2021 for best singer of the year category which is going to be held at the Medinat ul Jumerah, Dubai on 5th of November.
Yesterday Nov 4th, we were supposed to fly from Karachi to Dubai. Everything was prepared accordingly, our tickets & Visas. PISA team were in contact with us for more than 3 months now. On 2nd of November, we got a message that our flights had been cancelled by Emirates Airlines. Upon inquiring the reason, they had nothing to say.
We went to the Emirates’ Head office Karachi to confirm the status. We got to know that tickets are still booked on our names and were not cancelled or refunded. The Coordination Team misinformed us about the cancellation. They said to solve any issues, but we heard nothing. Since our tickets were still confirmed, we went to the airport on 4th of November, waited hours and hours, got our rapid Covid tests done and still no one notified us anything untill we went to the lounge and were informed by the Emirates boarding counter that our tickets were deliberately refunded.
Our father, who is a lawyer, took immediate action against the damage (specially emotional) that was done by them. We were totally shattered and traumatized by this behaviour shown by PISA’s team.
A number of people from the Gulf states specially Muscat, Al Ain, Sharjah and Dubai who bought tickets of PISA just to appreciate us and experience the representation of Baluch Community will be left disappointed.
This leaves us traumatized 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. All the other artists were boarded on the same flight, while we just kept waiting.
We find it disrespectful, humiliating and an attack on our mental health. This is an act of discrimination. We request you to become our voice and let this world figure out the reality of such people/shows who do nothing but play with emotions, mental health and careers of people like us. It wasn’t easy but now, it has gotten worse.
PISA Awards & The Baluch Twins: PISA’s official statement
On the contrary, PISA also released an official statement:-
The management at PISA would foremost like to apologize to the Baluch Twins for the inconvenience they experienced by not being able to attend the PISA’21 show in Dubai on November 5, 2021. The Baluch Twins were one of five esteemed nominees in the Song of the Year category.
In light of the accusations made, PISA would like to elaborate that the circumstances were a result of the cancellation of the flight the Baluch Twins were originally booked on. Twenty-nine PISA guests were on two Lahore to Dubai flights that were cancelled. Despite all efforts, several of those people could not be adjusted on alternate flights and unfortunately, the Baluch Twins were two of them. Covid advisories, the T20 Series and the Expo traffic all contributed to the unfortunate situation.
PISA would like to strongly clarify that the situation was purely logistic and had absolutely nothing to do with racial discrimination, as was accused. The management at PISA respects all of its nominees, including the Baluch Twins, and will continue to acknowledge, celebrate and encourage their undeniable talent.
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