The Daily Show host Trevor Noah says he is ‘sorry’ that his joke on the current military standoff between India and Pakistan has hurt the feelings of people after it was called “ignorant & racist”.
On his show last week the South African comedian said a war between India and Pakistan would be “the most entertaining of all times.
“Because the Indian soldiers will run out on the battlefield and they’d be like ‘time for you to die’", the comedian said aping Bollywood songs while gesturing firing guns.
“It’ll also be the longest war of all times, another dance number”.
However, not everyone in India was impressed by his joke on a conflict that until this week threatened to spiral out of hand.
Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar said the joke besides being ‘ignorant and racist’ was “a patronising generalization”.
Show host Noah said he was ‘sorry’ that his joke caused hurt. He tweeted in response to a tweet from an Indian writer and political commentator who invoked the comedian’s “violent past” to drive home her point.
“It's sad when someone who's had a violent past mocks war through a Bollywood stereotype. @Trevornoah 's mother was shot in the head by her husband (Trevor's stepfather). Imagine someone making fun of it with a Xhosa stereotype - the tribe his mum belongs to,” Zainab Sikandar wrote on Twitter.
"As a comedian, I use comedy to process pain and discomfort in my world, but I am sorry that this hurt you and others, that's not what I was trying to do," the US comedian wrote on Twitter.
Just hours before he apologised, he said people were more offended by jokes about an issue than the issue itself.
While many on the Indian side slammed the comedian for his joke, others defended him saying they found nothing wrong with it.
Tensions escalate between India and Pakistan
Tensions escalated between the two countries last Tuesday after India carried out an airstrike inside Pakistan and claimed to have hit a “terrorist training camp” in Balakot area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
The next day, fighter jets of the two nuclear-armed nations engaged in a dogfight for the first time in nearly 50 years, both claiming to have downed each other’s aircraft which significantly raised military and diplomatic tensions.
India said its action on February 26th was a "non-military preemptive" strike based on intelligence that Jaish-e-Mohammed, the group that claimed the February 14th IED blast in Pulwama, was planning more suicide attacks in India. India's Foreign Secretary said Pakistan failed to act against the group despite repeated requests.
Pakistan denies any role in the Pulwama attack.
Since the repatriation of an Indian pilot who ejected and landed in Pakistani-administered Kashmir on 27th February, tensions have cooled down significantly. However, firing by both sides on the de-facto border in Kashmir has risen which has reportedly killed a number of people, forcing residents of border villages to flee to safety.
India said it had killed "a very large number" of fighters at a militant camp inside Pakistan. Source: AAP
India and Pakistan have fought wars two wars in 1965 and 1971 and two limited military conflicts in Kashmir in 1948 and 1999.
