It’s been a little over a year since Pakistani singer/actor Meesha Shafi alleged sexual misconduct against fellow musician/actor, Ali Zafar. At the time, Zafar categorically denied the allegations and stated that he would wait for the legal procedure to take its course. And though the case still awaits a conclusive judgement, Zafar went ahead and participated in a TV interview. During the course of this 44-minute interview, Zafar didn’t miss many chance to mock the allegations and the women behind them.
Ali Zafar’s on a roll#AliZafar #MeeshaShafi @AliZafarsays @itsmeeshashafi pic.twitter.com/DjyP0zhaBs
— Galaxy Lollywood (@galaxylollywood) April 30, 2019
Accompanied by his wife Ayesha Fazli, Zafar presented a few disdainful arguments like – he requested the anchor to speak to his Bollywood colleagues like Katrina Kaif, Taapsee Pannu, Aditi Rao Hyadri and ask them about his ‘past’. Which doesn’t hold because Zafar could still be a first-time offender. Ayesha Fazli went on to state that Zafar always had an ‘opportunity’ with significantly more famous/good-looking women, then why would he choose these ‘bloggers’. Fazli completely misses the point of power dynamics in a case of sexual misconduct.
Proof that Ali Zafar & his wife think harassing women is an opportunity. https://t.co/lpXzs6k1i0
— she isnt alone (@Zaitoonmalik) May 1, 2019
O shut up Mr. Ali Zafar. Stop ranting on tv and go face the court. You are an accused here, not a victim.
And dear media, learn a thing or two about how you must behave in such cases. Shameful. This nation claims to be “giving respect to women”, but can’t even hear victims out.
— Marvi Sirmed (@marvisirmed) April 28, 2019
Can’t wait for Ali Zafar, Aamir Liaquat and Waqar Zaka to join forces and make the worst buddy romcom humanly possible. Call it Izzat Na Milegi Dobara.
— The Padded Room (@TPRPod) April 30, 2019
The court issues @itsmeeshashafi a gag order preventing her from talking about publicly, but Ali is free to address the press & public and say whatever he wants?
She can’t even respond to the claims he’s making using the same medium!
How is that fair?https://t.co/ojsdrL7MbL
— Madeeha Syed (@madeehasyed) April 27, 2019
Zafar goes completely tone-deaf by enacting the role of a ‘helpless victim’ in order to ‘portray’ Meesha Shafi. He says she is embroiled with other legal hassles concerning her cousin and her in-laws, implying exactly what? All this while, the show’s host Mubashir Lucman keeps insisting that there should be a movement called #MenToo.
Twitter is split with its loyalties towards both Zafar and Shafi, after both parties claimed to be harassed by ‘fake profiles’.
So I decided to look into this fake account issue in the #AliZafar #MeeshaShafi case. Becoz, why not? Randomly browsed through hashtags. Clicked on accounts with weird usernames. Damn @nighatdad and @itsmeeshashafi itni mehnat ki hai aap logon nay! Oh no, wait a minute… pic.twitter.com/cMgLe22dVy
— Excalibur (@ExcaliburKZ) April 30, 2019
“It’s not fascinating to me” .. nice joke.
You’ve failed to prove anything against Ali Zafar. Time for you to publicly apologize for falsely accusing an innocent & for damaging the #MeToo movement. _— Maira Tariq (@mairatariq) April 25, 2019
In the world full of Deepika, katrina kaif and Kubra khan but still Ali zafer chose this creature for the harassment FFS.does it really make any sense?#AliZafar pic.twitter.com/6dGYTi4BRM
— Asad (@Oblivion_1122) May 1, 2019
Meesha Shafi had previously alleged that Ali Zafar had misbehaved with her on three separate occasions – during a jamming session, at a family gathering in his home and during one more instance in Zafar’s in-laws’ home.
Zafar has every right to defend himself in the public domain, but the manner in which he chose to do it during the course of this TV interview was appalling and bereft of any grace. During an ‘impromptu’ performance at the end of the interview, Zafar takes one final dig at his alleged victim by saying her name in the middle of a song. And then both the accused Zafar and host Lucman burst into laughter.
Is there anyone we know who won’t disappoint?
You can watch the whole interview here:
