Actor and director Yasir Nawaz has come to his wife Nida Yasir’s defense following the controversy surrounding her comments about food delivery riders, asking fellow host Fiza Ali to stop criticising her.
In an Instagram story, Yasir took to humour to defuse the situation, writing: “Hello Fiza, how are you? For God’s sake, leave my innocent wife alone. You keep getting famous continuously. How much will you trouble the poor thing [Hello Fiza, kya haal hai? Allah! meri masoom biwi ka peecha chhor do. Yar tum to musalsal mashhoor hoti chali ja rahi ho. Kitna bachay ki jaan logi?]”
“May Allah forgive me, humans are not forgiving. My sister, forgive her, end this. You’ve become as famous as you wanted to, now close this chapter and move on. Catch someone else and make noise about them [Allah mian maaf kar deta hai, insaan maaf nahi kar raha. Meri behn, maaf kar do isay, khatam kar do. Jitna mashhoor hona tha ho chuki ho, bas khatam, ab chapter close karo. Aagay chalo, kisi aur ko pakro, uski band bajao]” he added.
The dispute began earlier this week when Nida Yasir discussed food delivery riders on her morning show Good Morning Pakistan. She accused riders of deliberately lying about not having change to pocket extra money as tips.
“Food delivery riders never seem to have change. If you tip them out of your own will, that’s completely fine but when they falsely claim they don’t have change, I always ask my driver to go and get it,” Nida said on the show.
She added, “When they’re made to wait and end up reaching their next deliveries late, then they understand. It has become a habit with many of them.”
Actress Nadia Khan and other guests reacted with nods and jokes as they shared similar experiences.
After this, television host Fiza Ali openly criticized Nida’s comments, saying that while tipping may not be mandatory, insulting someone is completely wrong.
“They ride through heavy rain, storms, and harsh weather just so our food reaches us,” Fiza said, speaking about the daily struggles of delivery riders.
She questioned whether people ever think about the families waiting for the riders at home. “Some mother must be waiting for her son. A child must be hoping his father comes home early. Many riders have only one bike, their only means of livelihood,” she said.
Fiza stressed that while tipping is not compulsory, insulting someone is never acceptable. “Riders are not machines. They are humans with feelings and responsibilities. If you show kindness today, Allah will help you in your difficult moments tomorrow,” she said.
She also pointed out that people easily spend 500 rupees on food but hesitate to offer even 20 rupees to riders. “Delivery may be late, but humanity should never be late,” she added.
Following widespread backlash, Nida Yasir apologized for her “choice of words” during a new episode of her morning show.
“A few days ago, during my programme, I shared my personal experience with you, an experience that was not pleasant. But my mistake was my choice of words, the way I chose to retell that experience,” she said.
She argued that she should have said “some people” instead of speaking broadly, insisting she never meant to target all riders. “There are so many riders; in fact, the majority of the riders are working very hard to make ends meet. I am not sitting here to hurt anybody,” she said.
“However many rider friends of mine were hurt, I want to apologise to them. I salute hardworking riders. I didn’t mean to make light of their struggles,” she concluded.
The controversy sparked mixed reactions on social media.
