Meesha Shafi 'will go once court will direct her to' appear, lawyer Nighat Dad

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.

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".

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.

Earlier in the day, Zafar had reached the sessions court in Lahore that heard the defamation suit against Shafi, despite not having being summoned by the court. He had said: "I wasn’t called to court today yet here I am.

"I am truthful and those who are honest appear without being called," he had said. "There was a social media campaign against me and I have taken this up with the FIA [Federal Investigation Agency]."

Zafar had further noted, "Meesha's lawyer has been following and retweeting fake accounts. This was done according to a proper plan. I was targeted for personal gains. Was this done because [Meesha Shafi] is going to Canada and her immigration is happening? I don’t know if she wanted international recognition there and become a Malala.”

The singer had added that he filed a contempt case against Shafi a year ago. Her "case was dismissed as was her appeal," he stated. "My case is that of compensation; it has been a year and our witnesses have appeared eight times."

"The case should be decided fast so my truth and their lie can be revealed," Zafar had said.

During today's hearing presided by Additional Sessions Judge Shakeel Ahmed, the court had recorded witness Baqar Abbas' testimony and summoned other witnesses at the next hearing. The hearing of the case was adjourned till May 4.

'Happened to me'

The singer-cum-actor had filed the defamation suit last year against Shafi, who had accused him of sexual harassment.

The suit, claiming damages of Rs1 billion, was filed under the Defamation Ordinance 2002. In the notice, the singer claimed Shafi damaged his reputation through false allegations of sexual harassment.

In April 2018, Shafi had taken to Twitter to publicly accuse 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!" her statement had read.

Zafar, on the other hand, "categorically" denied the allegations and threatened to take 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 had said on Twitter.