#TimesUp for harassment to go unchecked: Sanam Saeed

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Actor Sanam Saeed has joined the few celebrities who have lent their support to Meesha Shafi in her sexual harassment allegations against Ali Zafar.

Though the Cake and Zindagi Gulzar Hai star did not name the two singers in her Instagram post, she hailed Meesha for speaking up and explained to those defending Ali that anyone can ‘falter’.

"She did it... she spoke up... she broke the silence. Good on her and every single person who is speaking up,” Sanam started her post.

“For the rest of you passing judgment, take a few minutes to consider that it doesn’t take an evil person, non-family person or an overtly, sleazy, ill-mannered person to cross the line. It can be a good friend, relative, colleague, boss, family person, ‘decent’ person, successful, loved and admired person who falters,” she continued.

The actor stressed, “The tide is changing world over, they need to be shown, #timesup for this behavior to go unchecked.”

Sanam also assured those afraid to speak up of her support.

"For anyone afraid to speak up... we are here to support you. Let’s break the cycle together and support one another. Let inappropriate behaviour not go unchecked."

"No matter when you choose to #SpeakUp, regardless of days, minutes, weeks or years. Feel at ease that you have shared your truth. Their voices must and will be heard," she continued in her statement.

Explaining harassment, the actor wrote, “When a person makes inappropriate flirtatious comment – that is crossing a line. If one takes polite rejection as sign of encouragement and continues, this is not persistence, it is harassment. It doesn’t flatter, it wounds.”

“PS: for anyone who knows they have ever crossed the line, the correct thing to do is own up, apologise and to make sure it never happens again… to anyone!” she concluded.

Last week, Meesha via a statement on Twitter, accused Ali Zafar of physically harassing her on "more than one occasion".

"This happened to me despite the fact I am an empowered, accomplished woman who is known for speaking her mind!" read the statement.

Ali Zafar denied the accusations, threatening legal action against the actress.

"I intend to take this through the courts of law, and to address this professionally and seriously rather than to lodge any accusations here," the singer wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, renowned film actress Resham had defended Ali saying she has known him for 20 years and "he is someone who gives a lot of respect to others… who gives respect to women."

"Ali cannot do such a thing [harass a woman]," she said while speaking on Geo News' programme Capital Talk.

"Ali knows the difference between friendship and harassment. He cannot do such a thing," she had further said.

Actress Maya Ali had also posted on Instagram saying she respects Ali and "we shouldn’t judge anyone’s character" until the truth comes out.

"I’m not here to say who is wrong and who is right or who did what and who didn’t... Let’s say, I haven’t known him for long, but I have been working with him since once year, we shot our film in Lahore and then we were all together in Poland to shoot the rest of the film and I never ever got any kind of that vibe from him," Maya had said.