'Pawri girl' says honored her viral video brought India and Pakistan closer

A screengrab from Dananeer Mobin's viral “Pawri Hori Hai” video. (Photo courtesy: @dananeerr/Instagram)
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Updated 22 February 2021
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'Pawri girl' says honored her viral video brought India and Pakistan closer

  • Dananeer Mobin's clip made the rounds on social media after Indian music producer Yashraj Mukhate made its rendition
  • Video inspired other social media users in India and Pakistan to make their own "pawri" memes and shot 19-year-old Pakistani girl to fame

RAWALPINDI: Pakistani video creator Dananeer Mobin, whose humorous five-second clip has gone viral since Indian artist Yashraj Mukhate threw some beats on it, says she is honored that it brought social media users in India and Pakistan together.

The 19-year-old Islamabad-based influencer uploaded the video showing a group of young people and herself on a "pawri" (party) to her Instagram account on Feb. 6. The clip, in which she says “This is our car, this is us, and we are partying here!” soon made the rounds on social media after the famous Indian music producer shared its rendition, making it become a positive cross-border sensation.

While ties between India and Pakistan have been shaped by a bitter rivalry since the partition of the British-ruled Subcontinent into Muslim Pakistan and majority Hindu India in 1947, Mobin and Mukhate's collaboration has received a warm welcome on both sides of the border

“I feel so honored,” Mobin told Arab News on Saturday. "I read this tweet that said after 70 years of tensions across the border a young girl has managed to ease the tensions. I thought if this is what this is doing then that’s great."

While she admitted that she didn't know that the remix to her clip was in the works, but she said she and her sister had secretly hoped for it.

 

 

"He is such an amazing recording artist, and (my sister and I) had seen his videos before and had vibed to them so much, and I said to my sister Nafayal, 'imagine if he recreated this, how fun would that be?'" she said. "And can you imagine, the very same day, the very same night he uploaded the video!"

The music version of the video, "Pawri Hori Hai," now has over 25 million views on Mukhate’s YouTube page and over 6 million on his Instagram account.

It has inspired other social media users in India and Pakistan to make their own "pawri" memes and shot Mobin to fame with her 100,000 Instagram followers increasing to 1 million, with many coming from India, which finds "incredibly heartwarming."

Among those who followed the trend are some of Pakistan and India’s biggest names, including Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, who tweeted out a “Pawri Hori Hai” meme and Bollywood megastar Deepika Padukone, who also joined fellow actors like Shahid Kapoor and Randeep Hooda in tweeting out “Pawri Hori Hai” content.

The Pakistan Cricket Board shared a video of the national team doing their version of the "pawri" clip after winning a series against South Africa.

 

 

"I don’t even know how to explain it! I have grown up crushing on these people,” Mobin said Mobin, “it’s a badge of honor for me, I grew up idealizing these people and now they are recreating something I said. It’s crazy.”


Pakistan says it seized 32 square kilometers inside Afghanistan as border clashes escalate

Updated 28 February 2026
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Pakistan says it seized 32 square kilometers inside Afghanistan as border clashes escalate

  • Security official describes ‘limited tactical action’ in Gudwana after Afghan assaults
  • Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants as UN, China and Russia urge restraint

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seized a 32-square-kilometer area inside Afghanistan following overnight fighting, a security official said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes between the two countries escalated sharply.

A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troops carried out a “limited tactical action” in the Gudwana area opposite the Zhob sector along the frontier, capturing Afghan territory after responding to attacks on Pakistani positions.

“On the night of Feb. 26/27, posts opposite the Zhob sector launched anticipated physical attacks on multiple Pakistani positions,” the official said, referring to fighters linked to Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, whom Islamabad identifies as Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA).

“In response to aggressive unprovoked fire and physical attacks, Pakistan security forces launched a limited tactical action on the night of Feb. 27/28 in the general area of Gudwana with a view to capture TTA Tahir Post,” he continued, adding that 32 square kilometers of Afghan territory were seized.

The official said special combat teams crossed the border after preparatory bombardment, supported by intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets providing “real-time battlefield awareness.”

He said 24 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and 37 wounded, with no Pakistani casualties reported.

The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate confirmation from Taliban authorities in Kabul of any territorial loss in the Gudwana area.

The latest clashes erupted after Pakistani airstrikes targeted what Islamabad described as militant hideouts inside Afghanistan over the weekend, triggering retaliatory fire along the frontier and sharply escalating long-running tensions. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation that Afghanistan denies.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday evening that 352 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 535 wounded since the latest phase of hostilities began.

Tarar said Pakistani strikes had destroyed 130 check posts, 171 tanks and armored vehicles and targeted 41 locations across Afghanistan by air. Those figures could not be independently verified.

The United Nations, as well as China and Russia, have called for restraint.

The United States said Pakistan has the right to defend itself against cross-border militancy.