Dua Zehra, Zaheer Ahmed interview with Jam-e-Shirin on the table raises eyebrows

Lahore: Zunaira Mahum, the YouTuber who rose to fame from Geo’s Khabarnaak show, is receiving backlash for her interview with Dua Zehra and her husband Zaheer Ahmed.

The teenage couple is making headlines in Pakistan for getting married without the consent of girl’s parents who said their daughter was 14-year-old and an underage child could not marry of her own free will.

The YouTuber has been accused of glorifying the marriage and promoting the culture of girls eloping with their boyfriends.

Zunaira has also been criticized for promoting Jam-e-Shirin, a popular Pakistan drink, with the interview.

The YouTuber kept a bottle of the traditional Pakistani Sharbat on the table as she interviewed the couple.

Jam-e-Shirin on Thursday said it has nothing to do with the interview.

The Sindh High Court last week that Dua Zehra is free to decided her fate.

The teenage girl allegedly went missing from Karachi’s Shah Faisal Colony on April 16 and was recovered from Bahawalnagar on June 5, according to Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper.

Dua’s parents had lodged a case in Karachi on April 16, alleging that their underage daughter was kidnapped.

Ten days later, Dua had appeared on the media along with Zaheer Ahmed — the person she is said to have contracted marriage with — and announced they had married in Lahore. Her father, Mehdi Kazmi, subsequently produced documents before the media and said she was 13.

Zehra, however, denied to reporters that she was kidnapped and alleged that her parents were lying about her age as she was 18 years old.