KARACHI: A day after popular singer, actress and model Meesha Shafi alleged in a tweet that actor and singer Ali Zafar had harassed her, many women stepped forward and claimed they had had similar experiences.

However, Mr Zafar continued to maintain that he had not committed any wrongdoing and said he would take the actress to court. The allegations were trending on Friday across social media in Pakistan after Ms Shafi’s lengthy message on the social media website.

Makeup artist and painter Leena Ghani tweeted in support of Ms Shafi, thanking her for her bravery and shared her #MeToo story.

“[Ali Zafar’s] behaviour shows a clear lack of respect for women. Inappropriate contact, groping, sexual comments should not fall in the grey area between humour and indecency. Comments that would make your skin crawl and make you feel objectified are not to be reduced to ‘a joke’... In most cases, women like myself run from a situation and hope to God you never cross paths again. And when by some misfortune, you do, you hide from him.

“Hoping that his sleazy eyes and hands don’t find you again. His hands don’t run up and down your waist or hold you too tight while you desperately try to wiggle and run... The memories of the times when Ali thought he could get away by saying vulgar things still disgust me.”

Blogger Humna Raza recounted her experience of being inappropriately touched when she met the Mere Brother Ki Dulhan star at a public event.

She claimed that when she asked him for a selfie, he didn’t say anything but smirked and gestured by opening one of his arms, which she assumed was a “yes”.

“I came and stood right next to him and was about to click the photo when I felt his hand go up the side of my waist... I don’t want to be too explicit. I felt it, and I knew what happened... I thought I misunderstood, and was thinking things lol but I also knew. I was lying to myself. I knew what had just happened.”

Ms Raza went on to say that she told her friends about the incident but wasn’t sure if they believed her.

Journalist Maham Javaid described an encounter her cousin had with the singer and commended Ms Shafi for reminding everyone that women’s stories should be aired properly.

“Ali Zafar tried to kiss my cousin and pull my cousin into a restroom with him. Luckily my cousin’s friends were there to push Ali Zafar off. This was on a boat on the way to a party at the Yacht Club between 2004 [and] 2005... In those days such sexual harassment was such a non-issue and simultaneously such a taboo that we hardly spoke about it.”

A Twitter user by the name of Sofi alleged that a volunteer was molested by Mr Zafar during a fundraising event in Washington DC.

While many celebrities tried to distance themselves from the issue, Urwa Hocane, Armeena Khan, Mahira Khan and Osman Khalid Butt spoke up.

“The sick mentality of those commenting on an issue as serious as sexual harassment as casually as they are just shows where the root of this problem exists — in our minds. We will continue to breed harassers for as long as we continue to desensitise this issue,” tweeted Mahira Khan.

In a tweet, journalist Reham Khan expressed her support for Ms Shafi. Meanwhile, former journalist Faresh­teh Aslam, who now heads a PR and communications firm, tweeted: “It’s been a difficult 24 hours. Ali Zafar has been a preferred working choice for over a decade; he’s intense about work, principled & delivered over & above expectation. Never expected to hear this about him. Ali & force? There’s more to this #metoo.”

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2018