Singer Meesha Shafi on Monday said that she was ready to appear in court, if summoned, in the defamation case filed against her by fellow artist Ali Zafar over sexual harassment charges.
In her first television appearance since the harassment and defamation cases were filed in court, Meesha told Geo News in an exclusive interview that she had discussed the issue with Zafar’s legal representatives before bringing sexual harassment allegations against the latter.
“I was trying my best not to let this come out. I had given them the message that I do not want a controversy of any kind, and that I do not want this to come out in public,” she said. “I have tried my level best to sort the issue behind close doors, privately. But I didn’t get any breakthrough.”
She said she gave the message that she does not to work with Ali Zafar, but got the response that Meesha should visit him at his residence to talk about it.
She further said she was asked what she would do if there is an apology. She said she sent her response to the apology offer, but that Zafar went back to his request for her to meet him at his residence.
“During those four months after the incident, I did not speak about it as I had blocked it out. I was not thinking about it, nor was I thinking about how or when to talk about it,” she said.
“I had made a promise to myself that, after what I had experienced first hand, I would not put myself in such a situation where I would feel vulnerable like this.”
Responding to performing on stage together with Zafar, Meesha said it was the idea of the concert organisers and that she did it on their insistence.
“It was part of the agreement as per the professional contract,” she said.
Meesha said that she has a number of witnesses with her who are willing to record their statement in the court. “As per the harassment laws, the witnesses’ testimony is taken as evidence,” she said.
Shafi’s statement comes in response to singer Ali Zafar’s allegation that a social media campaign has been launched against him on Meesha’s behest.
Speaking in Geo News’ show Naya Pakistan, Zafar alleged that the paid accounts had been tasked by Meesha to tag companies who have hired Zafar along with the United Nations’ agencies so that his career can be ended.
Zafar alleged that Shafi wants to immigrate to Canada but he does not know why she made the harassment allegations in the first place. In response to Ali, the programme’s host Shahzad Iqbal highlighted that Meesha Shafi’s Canadian PR had been approved in 2016.
“I don’t know why she is doing this… one should ask her. She should come to the court herself and reveal her true intentions,” said Zafar.
On Sunday, Meesha’s lawyer Nighat Dad took to Twitter to call out what she termed society’s double standards in viewing male tears versus female tears while commenting on singer Ali Zafar’s recent breakdown on television while speaking about the sexual harassment charges against him.
If women victims and survivors of harassment become emotional or angry at any point during their interviews or media trial, they would be categorized as “hysterical” or “unstable” or using “Women Card” #Metoo
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) April 28, 2019
“If women victims and survivors of harassment become emotional or angry at any point during their interviews or media trial, they would be categorised as “hysterical” or “unstable” or using “Women Card”,” she said.
She also said that it was unfair that the accused, who she pointed out as a privileged person, was allowed to go live on television to talk about his side of the story while the victim was under a gag order.
If anyone has earned the right to cry today, it’s thousands of survivors around us who were forced to watch a privileged man accused of sexual harassment and whine because he has access to media while victim has gag orders against her
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) April 28, 2019
She went to predict that there would be more such episodes.
From today’s episode of male tears to R. Kelly’s to Brett Kavanugh’s you will find a stark similarity. They make it seem like it’s the accused who are hurt the most. Also more TV shows are planned and coming your way in coming days while survivor can’t utter a word in her defence
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) April 28, 2019
