Bombarded with “hate and abuse” for inviting Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem to the Neeraj Chopra Classic to be held in Bengaluru on May 24, the Indian javelin superstar on Friday clarified that the Paris Olympic Games champion’s presence was “completely out of question” in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

Caught in the same line of fire is Iman Esmail/Imanvi Esmail, the Internet influencer-turned-actress who is set to make her big acting debut in the Prabhas starrer Fauji. Many believe she has Pakistani roots and that her father, as has been claimed over the last few days, is connected to the Pakistani military. Despite Imanvi issuing a statement on Instagram on Thursday claiming to be “a proud Indian American who speaks Hindi, Telugu, Gujarati, and English”, demands that she be ousted from the film and asked to leave the country have not died down.

Neeraj, the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist and Paris Games silver medal-winning star, said he was deeply hurt to see his and his family’s integrity being questioned in abusive social media posts.

“After all that has taken place over the last 48 hours, Arshad’s presence at the NC Classic was completely out of the question. My country and its interests will always come first,” Neeraj, who is a Subedar Major in the Indian Army, wrote on X.

Nadeem declined the invitation a day after the attack, citing a packed calendar.

Neeraj said he was aware of the chatter surrounding his invitation to Nadeem after the Pahalgam attack.

“...most of it has been hate and abuse. They haven’t even left my family out of it. I usually am a man of few words, but that doesn’t mean I will not speak up against what I think is wrong. More so when it comes to questioning my love for our country, and the respect and honour of my family,” the 27-year-old wrote.

He also pointed out that the invitations for the Classic were sent out on Monday, a day before the terror attack. “The invitation I extended to Arshad was from one athlete to another — nothing more, nothing less. Invites had gone out to all athletes on Monday, two days (sic) before the terrorist attacks at Pahalgam.”

Neeraj also wrote about how his mother, Saroj, was targeted for her statement after the Paris Games last year in which she described Nadeem as her son.

One of India’s greatest-ever sportspersons, Neeraj said he has represented the country with pride for several years. “... So it hurts to see my integrity being questioned. It pains me that I have to explain myself to people who are targeting me and my family, with no good reason.”

Neeraj was one of the first active sportspersons who spoke out in support of the wrestlers after they were dragged away from their protest site by police in New Delhi on May 28, 2023. He had supported the wrestlers when most of the cricketers kept mum.

Imanvi, on the other hand, categorically denied any links to Pakistan.

“... nobody in my family has ever been or is currently associated with the Pakistani military in any way... I was born in Los Angeles, California after my parents legally immigrated to the United States as youth,” the 29-year-old actress, who has a following of 885K on Instagram and 1.9 million subscribers on YouTube, said in her clarification post.

However, many social media users dismissed her claims and even dug up previous videos and posts from her account where she had claimed to be of Indian and Pakistani heritage.

A few who have followed her since the beginning of her career as an influencer and dancer claimed that she had changed her name from Iman to Imanvi to “hide” her Pakistani identity.