After Meesha Shafi’s Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Ali Zafar, More Women Speak Up

Ali Zafar is loved all across Pakistan and India for his cute-boy charm and lovely voice, however, in the end, no one is a saint (heck, even saints are not saints) and so various sexual harassment cases against him have been made by three women in Pakistan. The first allegation came yesterday by Pakistani singer Meesha Shafi who posted her statement on social media since then Ali Zafar has stopped being a cute boy and lovely voiced actor for various women online.

Shafi wrote in her post, “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. These 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.”

Meesha Shafi is a popular actor and musician in Pakistan who has also appeared in films like Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Her accusation comes forth in the light of the #MeToo movement that created quite a revolution in Hollywood. She has also worked in the popular Pakistani film Waar.

Her post instantly gathered news and social media attention across both the countries. Zafar upon reacting to the claims posted his statement on social media too in which he stated, “I categorically deny any and all claims of harassment lodged against me by Ms. Shafi.” He also said that he’s ready to take the matter in court and fight the entire thing over there.

But in the wake of this sexual harassment allegation against Zafar, more women have come forward their stories.

Pakistani Journalist Maham Javed narrated an incident in which Zafar tried to kiss her cousin and even pull her into a restroom with him. She was saved by her friends and the girls didn’t report the incident to the police, considering the celebrity-power Zafar had.

Along with Maham, even Pakistani makeup artist Leena Ghani came out with her own story. She recalled various instances during which Zafar misbehaved with her and sexually harassed her. She said, “His behaviour displays a clear lack of respect for women. Inappropriate contact, groping, sexual comments should not fall in the grey area between humor and indecency.”

Here are some other tweets of women who shared the same story against Ali Zafar’s sexual harassment instances.

With women coming together to shame Ali Zafar for his predatory behaviour, here’s how Twitterati reacted to the news.

All of this teaches us one thing, no one could be believed.

Jyotsna Amla