KARACHI: Actor Kubra Khan has threatened to sue a YouTuber for defamation after he alleged in a recent video that four “top models and actresses” had illicit relationships with top military officials, Dawn.com reported on Tuesday.

In a video released on New Year’s eve, retired Maj Adil Raja, who describes himself on Twitter as a geopolitical analyst and rights activist, made several sweeping allegations against the former top leadership of the army.

Among them was the allegation was that four “top models and actresses” would fraternise with the former officials, as well as with politicians. However, he did not substantiate his claims with proof, claiming instead that the information was revealed to him by “sources”.

He also mentioned the initials of four women he was making the claims about — M.K., M.H., S.A. and K.K. or A.K. The confusion in the last set of initials was compounded when Raja claimed to have said AK after Ms Khan called him out.

This led to widespread speculation on social media about who the actors he mentioned could be, given the initials.

Late on Monday night, Ms Khan posted a message on her social media accounts, calling out Raja for ‘defamation’ and threatening to sue him in UK courts.

“I stayed quiet initially because obviously a fake video isn’t going to take over my existence but ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Do you think random people can point fingers at me and I’ll sit quietly and take it?

“You have a total of three days to come up with this proof which you claim is haq and sach. If not, either retract your statement and publicly apologise or I will be suing you for defamation... Lucky for you I’m not just from here, I am from UK so I’ll come there if I have to,” she posted on Instagram.

Two other actresses — Mehwish Hayat and Sajal Aly — also posted messages slamming “baseless insinuations” and “character assassination” in the wake of Raja’s video, without naming him.

“Just because I am an actress doesn’t mean my name can be dragged through the mud. Shame on you for spreading baseless allegations and insinuations about someone you know nothing about & even bigger shame on people who believe this [nonsense]. This just shows the sickness of our society that laps up this gutter journalism without any thought. But this stops & it stops now! I won’t allow anyone to defame my name,” Ms Hayat posted on her verified Twitter account.

“It is very sad that our country is becoming morally debased and ugly; character assassination is the worst form of humanity and sin,” Ms Aly wrote on her Twitter account.

Following an uproar, Raja took to social media again to defend himself, claiming he hadn’t defamed Kubra Khan and pointed to his “condemnation” of the rampant speculation that arose after his video as evidence of this. He also accused her of defaming him by explicitly naming him in her post.

Published in Dawn, january 4th, 2023