: They Accused a Pakistani Megastar of Sexual Harassment. Then They Were Sued for Defamation #WorldNEWS When Meesha Shafi ignited Pakistan’s #MeToo movement in 2018, she said she wanted to end

They Accused a Pakistani Megastar of Sexual Harassment. Then They Were Sued for Defamation #WorldNEWS
When Meesha Shafi ignited Pakistan’s #MeToo movement in 2018, she said she wanted to end the culture of silence around sexual harassment. Now, the singer and actor is under a court-imposed gag order while fighting a libel lawsuit.
The 38-year-old star of Mira Nair’s film The Reluctant Fundamentalist accused pop singer Ali Zafar of sexual harassment in 2018. He denied the allegation, and filed a defamation suit against her and eight others who also made or amplified claims against him online. All nine were charged with criminal defamation at the end of September. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison and a 1 million rupee (,144) fine.

At stake in the case is more than just their liberty. A ruling against those who decided to name names could derail the nascent #MeToo movement in the world’s fifth most-populous country, womens rights campaigners say. Mainly, they fear victims will be pushed back into the shadows.
“You cannot expect survivors to come forward [if] the next thing the accused does is weaponize defamation laws to silence them,” says Nighat Dad, a prominent rights activist and Shafi’s lawyer.
Such litigation has proliferated worldwide in the wake of #MeToo with women and men on both sides of the movement seeking to enlist the courts on disputed events. Ashely Judd, Justin Bieber and President Donald Trump have all sued or been sued for defamation over sexual misconduct allegations. Yet even as libel cases offer an avenue for legal recourse, they can also dissuade victims from calling out perpetrators and muzzle public discussion.
Like in the U. S. , Pakistan’s #MeToo movement took off on the back of celebrity star power, sweeping halls of power, film sets and newsrooms. But it also sparked a wider awareness campaign, propelling the taboo-stricken issue into the limelight in the Islamic republic.
Read More: How #MeToo Is Taking on a Life of Its Own in Asia
Shafi, a model and fashion icon turned singer, was one of the first Pakistani stars to attach her name to the cause. In a lengthy statement posted to Twitter in April 2018, she accused Zafar of “sexual harassment of a physical nature. ” While she refrained from detailing what she called multiple incidents, she appealed for ordinary women to share their stories too. If this can happen to someone like me, an established artist, then it can happen to any young woman, she wrote.
At least four other women soon stepped forward with more allegations against Zafar. The Pakistani musician, who has also enjoyed commercial success next door as a Bollywood actor, has been sending teenage hearts aflutter with his good looks and star power since the 1990s.