Singer Actor Ali Zafar To Drag Meesha Shafi To Court Over Sexual Exploitation

Earlier in the evening Meesha Shafi took to her Twitter account and accused Ali Zafar for sexually exploiting her multiple times. Now Ali refuted her allegations by releasing a statement on social media, In the statement, Ali acknowledged the significance of #MeToo campaign and then categorically denied all claims of harassment lodged against him by Meesha. He said, “I categorically deny any and all claims of harassment lodged against me by Ms Shafi.” The actor revealed that he will take the matter to court “address this professionally and seriously rather than to lodge any allegations”. He accused Meesha of disrespecting the #MeeToo campaign by “contesting personal vendettas on social media”.

“Ultimately I am a strong believer that the truth always prevails,” he concluded. A Pakistani news channel contacted Ali for his response on the allegations, he said, “I don’t want to talk about this issue right now.” Meesha have alleged that she was sexuall harassed multiple times, she released a statement on Twitter which reads “As a woman, a public figure and a mother, I have always felt strongly about using my voice to encourage and support our youth who look up to me especially girls, who dream of carving their own path in Pakistan.” Shafi continued, “Despite having a voice, there are some issues that are very difficult to speak about as a woman, especially sexual harassment.” “If this can happen to someone like me, an established artist, then it can happen to any young woman hoping to break into the industry and that concerns me gravely.”

She added, “I have been subjected, on more than one occasion, to sexual harassment of a physical nature at the hands of a colleague from my industry: Ali Zafar. These incidences did not happen when I was young, or just entering the industry. This happened to me despite the fact that I am an empowered, accomplished woman who is known for speaking her mind! This happened to me as a mother of two children.” Shafi had also featured in Coke Studio and she further claims “ It has been an extremely traumatic experience for me and my family. Ali is someone I have known for many years and someone who I have shared the stage with. I feel betrayed by his behaviour and his attitude and I know that I am not alone.”

“Today I am breaking this culture of silence and I hope that by doing that I am setting an example for young women in my country to do the same. We only have our voices and the time has come to use them.” Talking about Ali Zafar he is one of the biggest actor-singer in Pakistani film industry and has done movies in Bollywood. Ali appeared in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Chashme Baddoor, and Dear Zindagi. His biggest hit in Bollywood was Tere Bin Laden which was out in 2010. Even Meesha has featured in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.