On Thursday, July 5, Meesha Shafi was asked again by a sessions court in Lahore to respond to a Rs 1 billion defamation case filed against her by the Pakistani artist, Ali Zafar. In the first hearing, that took place on June 25, 2018, Meesha was requested to respond to the defamation allegations. However, at her failure to submit her reply by far or appear in court, Additional Sessions Judge, Shehzad Ahmed took over, ordering for the court’s notice seeking her reply to be posted on the gate of her residence. Shafi, now, has been given a deadline of August 13 to submit her reply in the case. “Meesha leveled false allegations of harassment against me for publicity,” said the Teefa in Trouble actor, to the court during the hearing, while he appealed for an amount of Rs1 billion in defamation to be paid by her. He further added, “My name has been tainted worldwide, owing to her false allegations.” According to reports, Meesha is currently not in Pakistan. Her legal advocate, Ahmed Pansota informed The Express Tribune, “Meesha is not obliged to appear in court right now. She can be represented through her legal counsel.” Earlier, during the hearing on June 25, Meesha was asked by the sessions court to submit a reply by July 5. Ali Zafar had submitted a defamation suit against Meesha to a district court last month. Earlier in April, Meesha accused Ali Zafar on the social media platform, Twitter, of physically harassing her on “more than one occasion”. On the other hand, Ali “categorically” denied the allegations, and threatened to take legal action against the singer/actress. He tweeted, “I intend to take this through the courts of law, and to address this professionally and seriously rather than to lodge any accusations here.” Published in Daily Times, July 6th 2018.