Women’s rights lawyer Nighat Dad on Saturday night explained that singer Meesha Shafi “has not been called by the court as of yet” but “will go once court will direct her to” appear.
Dad was speaking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan in response to singer Ali Zafar’s comments outside a sessions court in Lahore earlier in the day when he claimed that he was being targeted through an organised plan for personal gains.
Dad, who is part of the legal team representing Shafi in the defamation case filed by Zafar in response to allegations of sexual harassment made by Shafi, refuted the assertions he made and said the propaganda was, in fact, against the survivor.
The campaign, she added, was under the hashtag “#FaceTheCourtMeeshaShafi”.
When TV show host Shahzad Iqbal asked the lawyer about why she follows what he claimed were suspicious accounts, Dad said: “I follow any account that supports Meesha Shafi and her cause. I retweet tweets posted in favour of Meesha Shafi and her cause.”
However, “if Ali Zafar believes that an account is fake, he can go ahead and lodge a complaint,” she added.
While Meesha has a gag order against her under defamation suit, she can’t talk on mainstream media & social media about the case While other party to the case uses mainstream media and online spaces to spread misleading narrative around the case and viciously calls her liar.
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) April 27, 2019
Further, on her Twitter account, she explained that the “other party to the case uses mainstream media and online spaces to spread misleading narrative around the case and viciously calls [Shafi] liar” whereas it was ironical that the survivor “has a gag order against her under defamation suit” and, thus, “can’t talk on mainstream media & social media about the case”.
Alleges her lawyer to promote fake social media campaign against ‘him’ in media talk outside the court, as if all other accounts came forward with harassment allegations are fake too. Stop intimidating people with shallow threats of filing cases against them. Least you can do.
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) April 27, 2019
Meesha has not been called by the court as of yet, she will go once court will direct her too. Why lawyers are there? To represent her client. Our case on sexual harassment has never been heard on merits. Dismissed on technical grounds, order is challenged in the LHC.
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) April 27, 2019
Dad also questioned on Twitter whether “all other accounts came forward with harassment allegations [were] fake too”.
“Meesha has not been called by the court as of yet, she will go once court will direct her too. Why lawyers are there? To represent her client. Our case on sexual harassment has never been heard on merits. Dismissed on technical grounds, order is challenged in the LHC,” she added.
