Meesha Shafi accused Ali Zafar of sexual harassment last year in April. Since then, with regard to the situation, the contentious case has seen numerous people taking either Ali or Meesha’s side.
Some people stand with Meesha, claiming that by pursuing the worldwide #MeToo movement, Pakistan should also take powerful action against sexual harassers. While some support Ali, stating that Meesha is misusing the #MeToo movement simply because of her private agendas to tarnish Ali’s reputation.
More than a year later, it seems highly unlikely that the case is getting closed anytime soon as new facts keep coming to light every day. Just in May of this year, Galaxy Lollywood reported that nine witnesses came forward to refute Meesha’s allegations against Ali.
The recent development in the case comes from a woman named Sofi. On her twitter handle @seraphina444, Sofi has made tweets seeking an apology from Ali Zafar for posting a false allegation of harassment against him.
The false allegation tweet, which was posted on the same evening Meesha had accused Ali, stated that Ali Zafar had gone to the US to attend a fundraiser by APNA which Sofi was organizing. According to Sofi, they had sent a girl as their liaison to coordinate with Ali Zafar but later the girl claimed that Ali kept harassing her by moving close to her and touching her. Sofi also accused Ali of being a habitual “lecher” in that tweet.
Last year, I tweeted 👇🏻when a young lady confided her harassment experience with Ali Zafar; I deleted it in a day when certain information was brought to my knowledge which contradicted her description of the incident to me. pic.twitter.com/6nwBvunk2d
— Sofi (@seraphina444) September 22, 2019
But when a representative of Shaukat Khanum Hospital confronted her regarding her tweets, she deleted her tweet and later, her account as well. But on Monday Sofi reactivated her Twitter account to post an apology for Ali Zafar. She also posted a screenshot of the tweet which she had deleted last year.
Along with the screenshot, she wrote that she had posted that tweet because the woman in question had described the harassment incident to her. However, she had deleted the tweet that made the allegation within a day after new information was revealed to her about the incident.
I am a victim of harassment & a MeToo supporter & inclined to blv a woman’s acvount but sometimes our faith in people is misplaced. I regret the pain my naïveté & lack of impartial judgement has caused Mr Zafar & I hope this can make amends!
— Sofi (@seraphina444) September 22, 2019
She further added that she is also a victim of harassment. Being a supporter of the #MeToo movement, she was inclined to trust that woman but she was wrong about her and that she judged Ali based on her impartial judgment. She also posted that she had realized her mistakes and she wished to atone for her mistakes.
Since Sofi had mentioned Ali’s twitter account several times in her post, he was bound to notice it, and he did. Around 6:20 PM on Monday, he not only retweeted Sofi’s tweets in which she had refuted her allegations but also posted that it was courageous of her to apologize publicly.
Dear Sofi. It requires courage to accept your mistake and bravery to apologise publically. You are courageous and brave and that is how you should always be remembered. I wish you nothing but the best of health and happiness in life. God bless. https://t.co/YvHFumccfb
— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) September 23, 2019
Only time will tell what happens next in this case. With the case still in court and no sign of any resolution being found from both the sides involved, it looks like there is still much time left before this situation reaches its conclusion.
Respect her and her privacy. She is not a fake account and has explained why she used this account. She is in fact a real victim of harassment and was misguided. It is all verified. When someone apologises. Listen and give them the respect they deserve. https://t.co/t9As5Jykfc
— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) September 23, 2019
