Meesha's mother Saba Hamid records statement in Ali Zafar defamation case

LAHORE: Pakistani actress Saba Hamid said on Tuesday that she did not urge Meesha to go public with the sexual harassment allegations against Ali Zafar, rather she told her daughter to take her own decision.

Hamid recorded her statement during a hearing of the Rs 1 billion defamation case filed by Ali Zafar against Meesha Shafi. The hearing was presided by Additional Session Judge Amjad Ali Shah.

Hamid’s testimony marks the court recording the statement of Meesha’s first witness in the hearing of a Rs1-billion defamation case filed by singer Ali Zafar against musician Meesha Shafi.

Hamid said her daughter chose to go public of her own will, noting that she always lets her children "decide for themselves as I never imposed my decision upon them”.

“I think she was embarrassed enough not to disclose such incident even to me [at the time],” she said. “Women are generally reluctant to share such incident(s),” she added.

“I told her to take the decision for herself. I informed her about the positive and the negative effects of going public,” she informed the court.

Hamid also spoke on why her daughter did not immediately tell her about the harassment.

“Maybe she was ashamed to tell me,” she said. “Usually, women in Pakistan don’t talk about getting harassed,” she added.

Saba informed the court that she had been associated with the entertainment industry for the past 40 years.

In response to another question, she said that it was not possible that her daughter was jealous of Ali Zafar.

“After getting harassed three times, Meesha said she wouldn’t go to the same place again,” answered Hamid.

Last year, Meesha publicly accused singer Ali Zafar of sexual harassment, saying in an April 2018 tweet that Zafar had harassed her “on more than one occasion”. Zafar denied the accusations and filed a defamation case against the singer and actress.

Separately, Meesha also filed a defamation suit worth Rs2 billion against Zafar for allegedly making false remarks on media that were damaging to her reputation and goodwill.