LAHORE: Singer-cum-actress Meesha Shafi on Tuesday hired Muhammad Ahmad Pansota and Nighat Dad as her legal team to oversee issue related to her sexual harassment claim against pop star Ali Zafar.
On her Twitter handle, Shafi wrote: “I have appointed Barrister @pansota1 and @nighatdad as my legal counsels to look after all issues pertaining to my sexual harassment claim against Ali Zafar. Media is requested to contact them to get any update on the ongoing issue.”
“I have appointed Barrister @pansota1 and @nighatdad as my legal counsels to look after all issues pertaining to my sexual harassment claim against Ali Zafar. Media is requested to contact them to get any update on the ongoing issue.”
— Meesha Shafi (@itsmeeshashafi) April 24, 2018
Nighat Dad is a lawyer and internet and women’s rights activist and runs non-profit organisation Digital Rights Foundation. She has won several international awards for her work in IT security, while Barrister Pansota is a Lahore based lawyer.
The announcement comes after a day when Ali Zafar sent a legal notice of Rs 100 million to singer Meesha Shafi after the latter leveled allegations of sexual harassment against her colleague.
The actor maintained that Meesha had falsely accused him of sexually harassing her more than once.
According to the notice, a defamation suit would be filed against Meesha upon her failure to issue an apology to Ali on the electronic media within two weeks.
Advocate Ali Sibtain Fazli, counsel of Ali Zafar, said the media would be informed about the proceedings of this case.
Ali Zafar had broken his silence earlier this week on the matter when he had categorically denied all claims of harassment leveled against him by Meesha.
Meesha, who is the first person to level such allegations in Pakistan’s entertainment industry, had claimed that she was sexually harassed by Ali on different occasions.
On the other hand, Ali’s bandmates have refuted Meesha’s claims of harassment at a jam session many years ago.
The Coke Studio singer began his official statement by saying, “I am the father of a young girl and a young boy, a husband to a wife and a son to a mother. I stood up for myself, my family, my colleagues and friends countless times in the face of slander, defamation and general unkindness.”
Ali Zafar further said in his tweet: “I intend to take this matter to the court of law and to address this professionally and seriously rather than to level any allegations here.”
