Won’t go back to Pakistan: Adnan Sami

MUMBAI: Everyone knows how crudely Pakistani artists and singers are treated in India but this makes no difference to Pakistani singer Adnan Sami who is bent upon living in India, Geo News reported.

Recently all the property of the singer was confiscated and a ban imposed on his leaving the country following a petition in Indian high court. But, Adnan Sami is still insisting on showing his association with India.

“I will manage to live in a tent in India but can’t imagine going to back to Pakistan,” he said.

Putting in oblivion the embarrassment of the artist Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and film star Meera in India, Adnan Sami seems to consider India as his country.

I'm an Indian

Singer-composer Adnan Sami is none too pleased by attempts in the Pakistani media to club his case with that of the lately-beleaguered Pakistani singer Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who returned to Pakistan.Foiled attempts have been made by the media from across the border to get in touch with Adnan and his family in Pakistan and India.

Says Adnan angrily, “I don't know why the Pakistani media is bringing my name up in Rahat's context. First of all I am not being hounded/targeted/victimized/persecuted in Mumbai. I am doing just fine, shukriya. Yes, I'm in a spot of trouble with the government over a foreign-exchange issue.But you can't compare my problem with Rahat's. I had done everything as per official instruction.It was the authorities who did not read the fine -print.”

Adnan sidesteps the strong rumours that he is under renewed threat from a regional political party to leave the country.

“Arrey yaar, there will be the party-poopers in every situation.You can't run away and hide just because some people want to get rid of you. Let me make it very clear that Mumbai is my city. This is where I now belong.And no one can drive me out.”

Reacting to rumours that he still maintains a Pakistani passport Adnan sighs, “My application for an Indian passport is almost come through. I'll soon be an Indian citizen. Until then, yes I do hold a Pakistani passport. Does that make me Pakistani?

We've an example of a very important and beloved leader coming from Italy. How Italian would you consider this beloved leader who is dedicated to Indian politics? Nationality is a state of mind.I am Indian.I dare anyone to prove otherwise.”

Adnan creates history

For the live recording of a song to be done in participation with online listeners on two popular microblogs, singer Adnan Sami garnered a whopping 475,000 participants.

The huge number of participants for Adnan’s tribute to his father that he recorded January 21 at the Yash Raj Studios, has encouraged the composer-singer to attempt a whole album with live participants pitching in with their suggestions. The proposed album will have tracks dedicated to Adnan’s fans who would be contributing actively to every composition.

“When I recorded Main tere paas hoon for my father last Friday, I thought I would give my fans and listeners a chance to share a very precious recording moment with me.”

“We expected around 65,000 participants. We got 475,000 very active, very vocal and excitable people coming online with their ideas and suggestions,” said Adnan, who is of Pakistani descent but born and brought up in Britain, and has been living in Mumbai for quite some time. Many people who listened in made suggestions and corrections in the music.

“I was taken aback by their inner understanding of a song composition. I was on my laptop. I’d do a line and then a number of people with some very interesting usernames would pipe in. There were people who actually made suggestions that improved the quality of my number. I incorporated these suggestions,” said the 37-year-old singer.

The entire process of recording live at Yash Raj with massive online participation will be shown on television.

“It was history. No song in any part of the world has been recorded in this way,” said Adnan who intends to carry the online recording session even further. The only drawback is that the fans tend to get too close for comfort. “Some of them have embarrassing usernames like ‘hard-on’ and ‘dickhead’. It sounds really weird to call them out online by such names. We’ve to find a way out of this. Also some of them get very upset when their suggestions are not incorporated.

“That apart, the whole process of bringing to life a song with the active participation of thousands of people makes my songs creative and the intellectual property of the listeners,” said the singer.

Ex-wife's High Drama at Adnan Sami's Residence

Residents of Oberoi Sky Garden in suburban Mumbai were witness to some unscheduled drama on Sunday afternoon when Adnan Sami's former wife Sabah Galadari paid him an unexpected visit along with her lawyer Edith Day.

Still reeling under the latest attack Adnan recounted the horrific events of Sunday afternoon. “It was around 12.30 pm.I was having my wife brunch with my wife Roya when the door rang insistently and there was also some uncivil pounding on the door.

I won't say I was surprised to see Sabah with her lawyer. She hadn't done anything to make my life miserable for some time now. And I knew she must be restless. Anyway there she was with her lawyer, asking…no demanding that I allow her to enter the house.

Now either her lawyer is ill-informed or misinformed. Because my home has been confiscated by the government of India under FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) and she too has been barred from occupying any of part of my home.”

The soporific Sunday siesta mood was shattered as voices were raised and tempers began to touch heights way beyond the skyscaper's 13th floor where the two parties faced each other in warring positions.Adnan pointblank refused to allow Sabah or the lawyer into the home.

Reasons Adnan, “How could I allow them to enter? I mean, come on…don't they understand the law? Her earlier claims over my propery have been nulled by the FEMA order.

In fact the FEMA document clearly states her position vis-à-vis the property (copy of the FEMA document has been provided to this writer). At one point during our exchange in the corridor outside my home Sabah's lawyer asked me if I was recording their conversation on my cellphone.

Any lawyer who has ever been in a courtroom knows such recordings have no credence in the court of law.I feel sorry for Sabah. She's clearly being ill-advised and misinformed.”

Adnan didn't allow his unannounced guests to enter the home. Says Adnan, “I explained as gently as I could that under the FEMA order the propery has been confiscated.I advised her to obtain a clarification from the courts rather than trying to bulldoze in. I told her, 'I am a law-abiding citizen and I am not going to allow you to break the law.'”

Apparently seething in anger Sabah called the cops and the press.Wisely Adnan's wife Roya elected to stay out of the fracas.

Adnan Sami's lawyer Vaibhav Krishnan explains the legal ramifications of Sabah's latest manoeuvre. “The dates are very important. On 15 June 2010 the Family Court permitted Sabah Galadari to visit the 13th and 14th floors of Oberoi Sky Garden.

Against that we went in an appeal and they also went in for a writ. And a single judge of the High Court passed an order saying there's no question of her being allowed into the 13th and 14th floors at Oberoi Sky Garden. The honorable Judge said Sabah only had to be provided sufficient shelter by Adnan and that she could stay on the 12th floor of Oberoi Sky Garden or his old house Ankita Apartments.

Against this they went to the Division Bench of High Court Mumbai.And on 22 December 2010 the High Court stayed the single judge's order.We had decided to go to the Supreme Court, and now this happens! In-between a FEMA order which came to us and to them (Sabah Galadari and her lawyer) on 24 December confiscated his properties because he is a Pakistani citizen.

In the same judgement in paragraph 14, Sabah said that when the flats purchased by Adnan in 2003 she was in Dubai and that before she joined Adnan again in 2007 in Mumbai she had no idea of the purchase of these flats.

Before this she was claiming she had paid for the apartments and that Adnan had gifted her the apartments and that they were therefore hers.Through the FEMA order the entire truth about Sabah's claims came out because if she continued to claim she had paid for the property she would have to pay a heavy penalty to the government of India to the tune of 15 crore rupees.

It's all very well for a woman to make a drama out of her situation to gain symnpathy. But one can make a case of perjury for providing false facts to the courts.”

So what according Adnan's lawyer does Sabah's Sunday visit to Adnan's home entail? Explains Vaibhav Krishnan, “It's very simple. Since according to the FEMA order Adnan doesn't own the property he couldn't gift it to anyone.

Adnan as a Pakistani was disqualified from holding these flats, therefore Sabah was disqualified from receiving them as gifts. She can't claim these properties. Today she tried to barge in. If Adnan had permitted her to enter and stay then he'd have been guilty of trying to alter the status of a property after the FEMA order.

The lawyers had advised Sabah wrongly by trying to overrule the FEMA order. Adnan told Sabah's lawyer that she can't enter because it would've been a violation of a government of India. And when she prevented her she threatened to go to the press and police.”

Now Adnan Sami has to approach the High Court for forcing herself on confiscated property.

So the domestic Mahabharat continues.