A fresh round of accusations have been made against actor and singer Ali Zafar, by Pakistani singer Meesha Shafi, followed by others. Shafi took to social media, to open up about being sexually harassed by Zafar on several occasions and that her “conscience does not allow me to be silent anymore.” In a long text, Meesha said, “Sharing this because I believe that by speaking out about my own experience of sexual harassment, I will break the culture of silence that permeates through our society. It is not easy to speak out... but it is harder to stay silent. My conscience will not allow it anymore #MeToo.”
Zafar took to Twitter to respond to the allegations. He denied all accusations, and said, “I intend to take this through the courts of law and to address this professionally and seriously rather than to lodge any allegations here.” He added, “I am deeply aware and in support of the global #MeToo movement and what it stands for. I am the father of a young girl and a young boy, a husband to a wife and a son to a mother. I am a man that has stood up for myself, my family, my colleagues and friends countless times in the face of slander, defamation and general unkindness. I categorically deny any and all claims of harassment lodged against me by Ms Shafi.”
However, soon enough, more women came forward with similar allegations. Make up artist Leena Ghani lent Meesha her support, tweeting she was not alone and that she had faced similar experiences. “Seeing (Meesha's) courage it's impossible for me to not speak now, not only in support of her but also to say she's not alone. In the many years I have known Ali, he has on several occasions crossed boundaries of what is appropriate behaviour between friends.” Elaborating on Ali's behaviour, she said it showed a “clear lack of respect for women.”
“Inappropriate contact, groping, sexual comments should not fall in the grey area between humour and indecency. Comments that would make your skin crawl and make you feel objectified are not to be reduced to ‘a joke’ such behaviours can leave women feeling embarrassed, small and reduced to the level of entertainment at the hands of a woman. Another woman, a journalist described an event from “many many years ago” when the actor tried to kiss her cousin and pull her into a restroom with him. She also thanked Meesha for “reminding us that our stories matter.” A blogger Humna Raza recounted when he inappropriately touched her at a public event.
