Daily Times

Lahore: Singer and actor Ali Zafar presented himself once again in court on Thursday, for cross-examination. The examination was carried out by Meesha Shafi’s lawyers Saqib Jillani, Nighat Dad and Ahmed Ali Pansota. Saqib Jillani asked Ali Zafar whether he thought Meesha had blackmailed Pepsi.

“Pepsi approached me and wanted to sign me up to replace Atif Aslam as judge in ‘Pepsi Battle of the Bands’. Meesha was on great terms with both me and my wife up till then.

She would come to my home, meet me and Ayesha and post pictures of me with herself on social media. We were good friends. So much so that she sent me a message after the alleged incident saying she “had a great time jamming and performing” with me. However, shortly after she found out that I am replacing Atif in Battle of the Bands she sent me a threatening message through my manager Rizwan Raees. The message was that I should stay away from the Pepsi contract otherwise she would accuse me publicly of harassment. I was shocked because she had never ever shown any signs of discomfort or hostility towards me. I asked her that keeping in mind our history as friends she could say this to me or my wife directly on my face and if I had done any such thing then I would not just like to apologize but also resign from the Pepsi Judge’s panel. But she refused to meet and sent a message through my manager that I should not be stupid and try to resist or fight this. She said that I should focus on my film and my career which would be destroyed if she came out with such an allegation as public sympathy will always be with the woman as evidenced internationally in the metoo movement. She also threatened that when she would go public she will have other women, Atif and the press with her. I realised that this is not about harassment but the point is to drop me from the contract. So I refused to be blackmailed and threatened. Later, it was communicated to me that Meesha had asked Pepsi for more money as condition to sit with me on the panel and that the issue had been resolved between her and Pepsi and I should proceed with my travel for the show. However when I was about to leave my house to take the flight to Karachi to record the show, she tweeted the false and malicious allegation against me on twitter so Pepsi would ultimately be left with no choice but to drop me.” Learned council of Shafi, Jillani and Nighat Dad asked Ali Zafar what he thought of the #MeToo Movement to which he responded. “I deeply respect the #MeToo Movement but also condemn its misuse.” The court was adjourned for tomorrow (Friday) for further cross examination.