Former Bigg Boss contestant Arshi Khan and her family are deeply affected by the horrifying images that followed the Taliban takeover of power in Afghanistan. It hits home harder for them, as their roots are in that country. Arshi’s grandfather had migrated to India several years ago. Although Arshi and family are all Indian citizens now, they find the current situation in their ancestral country terribly upsetting.
“I am Afghani Pathan, my family belongs to the Yusuf Zaheer Pathan ethnic group. My grandfather had migrated from Afghanistan and was a jailer in Bhopal. My roots are in Afghanistan even though I was born in India. Many people are under the impression that I am from Pakistan, but I am an Indian citizen with Afghan roots,” Arshi told News18 over the phone from Mumbai.
Her parents still live in Bhopal, where her grandfather had originally settled. Arshi did her schooling and graduation in Bhopal, before moving to Mumbai to try her luck in showbiz. She was a contestant on Bigg Boss 11, and re-entered the show last year for season 14. She has appeared in several other reality shows and music videos.
Arshi Khan also clarified that some reports wrongly say that she was born in Afghanistan and migrated to India when she was a kid. But that is not true. She has never been to the country. “I wanted to visit after the Covid situation got better. But now the Taliban situation has happened,” she says.
She mainly expresses concern about how things might get worse for women in Afghanistan. “They discriminate so much against women, have so many different rules for them. You have to wear hijab, even cover your eyes with a net, wear hand gloves. There are many places where women have to wear burkhas even inside the house. The world has progressed so much, but these people still have such conservative ideas about how women should live. Men do not have such restrictions, they can do anything. Women are treated as slaves. My parents are also worried about Afghanistan, because they do have relationship with that country.”
“Even if you do not have any connection Afghanistan, as human beings we’re all affected by what is happening there, especially with the women. So I will definitely raise my voice against it,” she emphasizes.
Most of Arshi’s extended family members in Afghanistan have migrated to other countries to lead a better life. “Afghanistan is not as developed as India. They don’t have as many facilities. Many cricketers from Afghanistan are my friends. They also say that India is so much more developed. Job opportunities are limited there, so many of my relatives from Afghanistan have migrated to the Middle East and other countries like UK and US. Some have even moved to Pakistan. My immediate family members are in Bhopal and they love India.”
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