Pakistan’s #MeToo movement hangs in the balance over celebrity case

A popular actor was accused of harassment – now those who spoke against him are being charged under law meant to protect women

It takes a lot to rattle Leena Ghani. As an artist turned activist helping to raise the voices of Pakistan’s women, she has often fielded abuse, threats and harassment.

But when she learned, on a morning in late September, that police had charged her for criminal defamation, linked to Pakistan’s most high-profile #MeToo case, Ghani says she was shaken. “In terms of silencing and demonising people speaking out against sexual assault, it was a new low even for Pakistan,” she says.

Ghani was not alone. Eight others were also named in the case, facing three years in jail for criminal defamation. Some only learned of their involvement through a newspaper article.

Lawyers say the case has exposed how cyber defamation laws passed under the guise of protecting women from online harassment are being used instead to silence Pakistan’s victims of sexual assault.

On 16 December, the authorities said there was enough evidence to take Ghani and others to trial – and the future of Pakistan’s #MeToo movement now hangs in the balance.

Meesha Shafi
 Meesha Shafi, whose 2018 tweet marked the beginning of Pakistan’s #MeToo movement. Photograph: IFC Films/courtesy Everett C/REX

That movement began in April 2018 after Meesha Shafi, a singer and actor who starred in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, sent out a tweet alleging sexual harassment.

Shafi alleged that she had “been subjected, on more than one occasion, to sexual harassment of a physical nature” at the hands of one of Pakistan’s most beloved celebrities, Ali Zafar. Shafi wrote that by speaking out, she hoped to “break the culture of silence that permeates through our society”.

Zafar denies “any and all claims of harassment lodged against me by Ms Shafi”, and so far has successfully defeated the sexual harassment claims she brought against him in court.

The allegations reverberated through Pakistan’s deeply conservative Islamic society, where women speaking out against assault is rare and taboo. Because of Zafar’s popularity disbelief was rife, but dozens of women and men came out in support of Shafi on social media, including several who alleged assault by Zafar.

Among them was Ghani, who said her concerns about Zafar’s treatment of women emerged after they became friends in 2014. Writing on Twitter, Ghani accused Zafar of behaviour towards her that “displays a clear lack of respect for women”, including “inappropriate contact, groping, sexual comments”.

“You hide from him,” read Ghani’s post, “hoping his sleazy eyes and hands don’t find you again. His hands don’t make their way up and down your waist or hold you too tight while you desperately try to wriggle and run.”

Leena Ghani
 Pakistani activist Leena Ghani says the charge against her is a ‘new low even for Pakistan’. Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

Similar accusations followed. Blogger Humna Raza alleged that Zafar had groped her at an event, while Maham Javaid, a journalist, recounted on Twitter an alleged incident where Zafar had “tried to kiss my cousin and pull my cousin into a restroom with him. Luckily, my cousin’s friends were there to push him off.”Advertisementhttps://e7b5d3b23d7efa91cbc46c176942663a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

Zafar has accused Shafi of organising a social media campaign against him. According to newspaper reports, he said he could not believe that “anyone can come forward and accuse someone who is innocent and decent, has worked hard for over two decades – solely on social media”.

Zafar filed a civil defamation lawsuit against Shafi, seeking a billion rupees in damages. The court accepted the lawsuit and placed a gag order on Shafi, which still prevents her from discussing the allegations in public.

Over the next two and a half years, Zafar appeared on a dozen television shows to defend his name, sometimes breaking down into tears and occasionally accompanied by his wife. He alleged the accusations were a smear campaign, coordinated by a group of women who created fake accounts and were funded by foreign money. Last month, Pakistan’s president awarded Zafar the Pride of Pakistan, one of the country’s highest honours.

In July 2018, Shafi also began legal proceedings, attempting to take Zafar to court for sexual harassment in the workplace. Her case was dismissed on the technicality that freelancers were not covered by the law. An appeal to the Lahore high court was unsuccessful and although her lawyers have challenged the ruling in the supreme court, the case has still not been heard.

Meesha Shafi
 Meesha Shafi still awaits a supreme court ruling on her sexual harassment case. Photograph: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Advertisement

In November 2018 rumours began to swirl that Zafar had also filed criminal charges against Shafi and 25 of her online supporters and fellow accusers with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan’s most powerful investigating body.

By July 2019, dozens of people, mainly women, who had written social media posts either making allegations about Zafar or expressing support for Shafi, began to receive notices to appear before the FIA for questioning.

Ghani, Javaid and Raza were among them, as well as Iffat Omar, an actor who knew Shafi and Zafar personally. When Zafar claimed on television that the women taking Shafi’s side were being paid by the west to spread propaganda, Omar wrote “stop lying harasser” on her social media.

Omar and Ghani were questioned by the FIA and both separately alleged they had been put under pressure by officers to retract their allegations against Zafar and apologise. Both refused. The senior FIA officer on the case was later suspended over a tweet which led to accusations he was being “Ali Zafar’s personal spokesperson” on social media. The FIA declined to comment on the case.

Poster featuring Ali Zafar
 Poster featuring Ali Zafar, one of Pakistan’s most beloved celebrities Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy

At least three of the women also allege that Zafar applied “indirect harassment” through social networks. Omar says she received a “clear message from Ali Zafar that if I just apologise, everything will be better for me – and I have given him the direct answer that it is not happening.”

Ghani alleges that “Zafar also tried to get to me through my family and would send cruel messages about my family’s problems through third parties. A lot of dirty tactics. He was trying to put pressure on me to apologise and I’ll admit it was scary.”

But in late 2019, after she had filed a legal petition against Zafar and the FIA for harassment and Javaid had written to the senate human rights committee to complain, everything went quiet. Until September 2020, when news of the charges broke.

Nine people, five women including Shafi, Ghani, Omar, Javaid and Raza, and four men, had been booked for defamation by the FIA’s cybercrime wing over the alleged social media “character assassination” of Zafar. The charges carried a three-year jail sentence.

There was confusion as to why only nine had been booked in the case, when the original list had 25 names. But then, says Javaid, the penny dropped: “We realised we were the only ones who had refused to apologise to Zafar.”Advertisement

One of the accused, journalist Haseem uz Zaman, is facing charges for tweets that claimed “Ali Zafar harasses women”. They refuse to apologise. “That would not only harm my future and my journalistic credibility, but it would also harm every other survivor of sexual harassment who comes forward in the future,” they say. “And I could not live with that.”

After news of the criminal charges broke, Ghani and the others began to face a barrage of online rape and death threats and harassment, and say they were vilified in Pakistani media.

A week later, the blogger Raza created a new Twitter account and published a handwritten note retracting her allegations against Zafar and apologising for “the hurt” she had caused him and his family. Zafar shared the tweet. Raza’s name has been dropped from the case.

For the women, most galling of all was the law they had been charged under. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act was passed in 2016 partly to protect women from online harassment, but the wing of the FIA tasked with prosecuting these cases is accused of being ineffective.

Nighat Dad, Shafi’s lawyer, says she knows dozens of women who have complained to the FIA about online abuse, hate-speech, rape threats and vindictive sharing of intimate videos, but had received no response.

“It’s rare the cybercrime wing will register cases lodged by women activists, and even if they do, it usually takes years for anything to happen,” says Dad. “So I was never expecting that they would be so shameless as to take action against women survivors who are speaking up.”

This was not an isolated use of the law against women. When girls at the prestigious Lahore Grammar School recently alleged harassment by teachers and fellow students, several were threatened with criminal defamation, after which the accusations went quiet. At Lahore University of Management Sciences, a Facebook page for student testimonials of sexual assault was shut down with a letter threatening to report them to the FIA.

“We are seeing this happen over and over,” says Dad. “The cyber laws that were enacted in the name of protecting women in Pakistan now are being misused and weaponised to silence them.”

International Women’s Day in Lahore
 Activists call for change on International Women’s Day in Lahore last March. Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

As Shafi’s lawyer, Dad claims she herself has been subjected to a “vicious smear campaign”, with newspapers making allegations that she is a foreign operative running an “illegal NGO”, unsubstantiated claims retweeted by Zafar. “They will not only try and silence victims, but anyone who tries to help victims fight for justice,” says Dad.

On 15 December, the FIA presented evidence that Shafi and others in the case were “guilty” of defamation and asked for court proceedings against them to begin.

Ambreen Qureshi, Zafar’s lawyer, declined to talk to the Guardian about the allegations but said “we have presented evidence to the FIA on account of which Ms Shafi and eight others are booked”. Qureshi says Shafi had failed to provide any witnesses to support her allegations. Shafi’s lawyers say she was not given the opportunity.

According to Qureshi, the court documents so far show “in this case an innocent man was made a target of a criminally motivated malicious campaign by a group of closely related women.” The eight women facing charges deny any previous relationship or any campaign and say they intend to fight the case in court and push for the cyber defamation law to be repealed.

Ghani says: “People keep saying #MeToo is dying in Pakistan, which is so terrible because it’s not like women are not getting harassed and assaulted and raped, but we are being silenced. We all realise that Pakistan’s #MeToo movement hinges on this case.”

“The whole system is against us; Ali Zafar is a powerful man, and going to court is hard – but what can be harder than lying and living with that lie,” she adds. “I would rather go to jail.”

Related Articles

118 COMMENTS

  1. Unquestionably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the internet the easiest
    thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while
    people consider worries that they just do not know about.
    You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side-effects ,
    people can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more.

    Thanks

    Here is my site Julienne

  2. It’s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s
    time to be happy. I have learn this post and if I may
    I want to suggest you some attention-grabbing issues or tips.
    Maybe you could write next articles regarding
    this article. I desire to read more issues approximately it!

    my web site :: cosplay costumes for women

  3. Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask.
    Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog
    post or vice-versa? My site covers a lot of the
    same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each
    other. If you are interested feel free to send me
    an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Awesome blog
    by the way!

    Here is my website – https://cults3d.com/fr/utilisateurs/molelawyer4

  4. I have been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
    It is pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.

    Also visit my webpage – http://www.wattpad.com

  5. Greetings I am so excited I found your web site, I really found you by accident, while
    I was looking on Google for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say thanks for a
    fantastic post and a all round exciting blog (I
    also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at
    the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the
    awesome work.

    my homepage https://moiraalbert.mystrikingly.com/blog/why-choose-classic-eyelash-extensions

  6. Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs
    I stumbleupon everyday. It’s always interesting to read through articles from other authors and practice
    something from their web sites.

    Take a look at my web-site discuss

  7. I do not know if it’s just me or if everyone else experiencing problems with
    your website. It seems like some of the text on your content are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let me know
    if this is happening to them as well? This could be
    a issue with my internet browser because I’ve had this happen before.
    Kudos

    Here is my web site https://historyhub.history.gov/external-link.jspa?url=https://city2020.com/

  8. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
    Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
    Plz reply as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from.

    thank you

    my blog post: discuss

  9. May I simply just say what a comfort to find a person that truly knows
    what they are discussing on the net. You actually know how to bring an issue to light
    and make it important. More people need to check this out and understand this side of your story.
    It’s surprising you aren’t more popular given that
    you definitely possess the gift.

    Feel free to surf to my web blog … http://1069.club/home.php?mod=space&uid=371489

  10. Hello! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask.

    Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article
    or vice-versa? My website addresses a lot of the same subjects as yours
    and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other.
    If you might be interested feel free to send me an e-mail.
    I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!

    Also visit my site: https://flowad.net/home.php?mod=space&uid=117063

  11. Hello I am so thrilled I found your site, I really found you by mistake, while I
    was researching on Aol for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say thanks
    a lot for a incredible post and a all round entertaining blog
    (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the moment but I
    have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I
    have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do
    keep up the fantastic job.

    Also visit my blog post: How to cosplay new style of Hawkeye Ronin

  12. With havin so much content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but
    it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement.
    Do you know any methods to help stop content from being ripped off?
    I’d genuinely appreciate it.

    My web blog :: oneherosuits.com

  13. Heya this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use
    WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
    I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience.

    Any help would be enormously appreciated!

    Have a look at my site http://www.gufenghanfu.com

  14. First of all I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
    I was curious to find out how you center yourself and clear your head prior to writing.
    I’ve had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out.
    I do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes tend to
    be lost simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints?
    Thank you!

    my webpage :: http://www.mynewnet.com

  15. Thanks for another excellent article. The place else
    could anybody get that kind of information in such a perfect way of writing?
    I have a presentation next week, and I’m on the search for such information.

    Have a look at my homepage Lesli

  16. Great items from you, man. I’ve take into account your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely wonderful.
    I really like what you’ve bought here, really like what you’re saying and the way by which you say it.
    You are making it entertaining and you still take care of to
    keep it sensible. I cant wait to learn far more from you. This is actually a tremendous site.

    Feel free to visit my blog post: http://yatirimciyiz.net/index.php?qa=user&qa_1=neonclock7

  17. Yesterday, while I was at work, my cousin stole my apple ipad and tested to see if it can survive a twenty five foot drop,
    just so she can be a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now broken and she has 83 views.

    I know this is completely off topic but I had to share it
    with someone!

    Also visit my blog post mandalorian cosplays

  18. What i do not understood is actually how you’re no longer actually a
    lot more neatly-favored than you may be right now.
    You’re very intelligent. You understand therefore considerably
    relating to this topic, produced me in my opinion believe it
    from numerous varied angles. Its like men and
    women aren’t interested until it is something to do with Girl gaga!
    Your individual stuffs outstanding. Always take care of it up!

    Feel free to surf to my webpage – botdb.win

  19. Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of
    spam comments? If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can suggest?
    I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any help
    is very much appreciated.

    my blog post – xt_blog

  20. Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles
    as long as I provide credit and sources back to your webpage?
    My website is in the very same niche as yours and my visitors would
    really benefit from some of the information you present here.

    Please let me know if this alright with you.
    Appreciate it!

    Also visit my web site pandora.nla.gov.au

  21. The other day, while I was at work, my cousin stole
    my iphone and tested to see if it can survive a 40 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now broken and she has 83 views.

    I know this is entirely off topic but I had to share it with someone!

    My site – burtonclay.weebly.com

  22. Hello! I know this is kind of off-topic but I had
    to ask. Does building a well-established
    website like yours require a large amount of work?
    I am brand new to blogging but I do write in my diary every day.
    I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my personal
    experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips for brand new aspiring blog owners.

    Thankyou!

    Here is my page – https://postheaven.net/bech32herndon/just-how-lash-extensions-can-assist-you-get-the-very-best-look

Stay Connected.

1,169,000FansLike
34,567FollowersFollow
1,401,000FollowersFollow
0SubscribersSubscribe
- Advertisement -

Latest Articles