ISLAMABAD – Sexual harassment, gender inequality and patriarchy are evidentrealities of our society and must be fought valiantly.

The case, however, of Meesha Shafi vs Ali Zafar deserves to be looked at ina different light. This is a case of a woman and a man that are empowered,well respected and colleagues themselves. This is a case of two equals andtherefore cannot possibly be talked about and discussed in the samenarrative as other sinister and harrowing cases of sexual harassment wherethe abuse of power, gender and stature play a huge part. We, in fact, mustalso assess the effect this allegation may have on Pakistan’s fight for theequal treatment of women, in another article.

Let’s first walk through the series of recent events: Meesha Shafi accusedAli Zafar of physical harassment on more than one occasion, in her tweet onthe 19th of April. In a subsequent interview, she alleges the second timeshe was harassed was at a jam session for a show that the two were engagedwith. After this tweet, the same day and some few hours later, Ali Zafardenies all allegations and confirms that he will be taking this allegationthrough the courts of law. On April 25th Meesha’s lawyer, Pansota, onTwitter no less, confirms a legal notice for defamation has been received.The legal team has not yet responded to this notice.

In the meantime, several public statements appeared which served todiscredit Meesha Shafi’s claims. Her former manager, Fahad Rehman claimedhis experience with her included ‘blackmail’; two women part of the band atthe jam session where the alleged harassment was said to take place cameout as witnesses. Of course, feminists declared them to be invalid byvirtue of the fact that they were Zafar’s backing singers and, therefore,must have been paid off to claim otherwise – a great case of women gangingup on other women just to prove a point. Then, a former theatre colleague,Talia Mirza wrote a public note on Facebook claiming that she had beenbullied and Shafi had slut shamed other women. She also said that Meesha’sbrother, Faris Shafi, also a public figure, had put women in uncomfortablesituations in the past including herself. It is interesting to note thatnone of the feminist groups in support of Meesha have investigated oraddressed these claims. It is very serious that the lady being celebratedas the face and voice of #MeToo in Pakistan has herself been accused ofbeing a bully to other women and men and whose own brother has been calledout for sexual harassment. We urge Meesha Shafi and Pakistan’s feminists tocome forward and address this case.

Shafi, according to public records, has had an FIR filed against her someyears back. Why is none of this being documented and talked about?

It is also important not to dismiss the pictures of Shafi and Zafartogether simply as misogynistic media trying to portray her negatively. Putaside any questions on attire for a minute. Is it not to be questioned whyShafi continued to meet Zafar at his house, at public events and privateparties despite being harassed by him on multiple occasions? And even whyshe chose to publically post about those interactions on her own socialmedia? These are interactions which she has visibly removed recently. Youcannot equate this to a power dynamic whereby she ‘needed’ to interact withhim and talk about him for the sake of her career or business after all,which is what she implies in an interview she gave to a newspaper whenasked. It was a choice she made. Why should one dismiss these pictures andagree that questioning her interactions with Zafar during this period ofalleged harassment is unfair and anti-feminist? No one is claiming that sheis lying. Instead, we are suggesting an analytical discussion on what trulyconstitutes harassment, whether her specific case was harassment, and whyif she felt unsafe and harassed did she repeatedly choose to put herself inthose situations and document them publically. This is a question only thecourts of law can find the answer to and for that reason, we respectZafar’s decision to go to court.

If closed door discussion between the old and the new feminist schools areto be believed, there has been support for Meesha becoming the target ofthe media venom, but not for her public stance that she took against AliZafar. There has been talk of how Shafi may have belittled a very importantissue by choosing to speak out on social media, instead of seeking formalrecourse, how she has been seeking international validation through hersubsequent tweets to international bodies, and equally how her lawyerPansota has been appearing on every TV channel in an attempt to makehimself a television star. There has also been talk about how women writingout in support of Shafi, are themselves friends with, married to or inpartnerships with well-known abusers of the law. Shafi herself, accordingto public records, has had an FIR filed against her some years back. Thiswas by her very own family members and famous musician, Farhad Hamayun. Whyis none of this being documented and talked about? Why is there a concertedeffort to paint Meesha Shafi as a spotless wonder woman when just like usall, she too has several skeletons in her closet, and those should meansomething in the context of this case. If we can all say, “Oh! Everyoneknows Ali Zafar was a womanizer”, then in the same breath we should alsosay, ‘Oh! Everyone knows Meesha isn’t very straightforward either.”

What we are suggesting is an analytical discussion on what trulyconstitutes harassment, whether or not her specific case was harassment

Let’s go in to this with open eyes. If women and men want equality, thenwomen too need to view this case with a sense of equality. Empowerment doesnot mean we avert our proverbial gaze to some hard truths and slam anyonewho chooses to question Shafi over her claims. Isn’t that an abuse of power?

Actor Aditi Rao Hydari in support of the #MeToo campaign, just recentlyposted a statement on her Twitter, saying that while men have aresponsibility towards women, the latter have an equal responsibility inbringing about a “change”. Aditi’s post came in response to producer TanujGarg’s tweet: “The honourable #Metoo campaign by the lovely Rose McGowan isgetting misused by some women for personal benefit. Belated, mischievousand unproven defamatory rants masquerading as woman empowerment, havespoilt it for the genuine victims of harassment. #MeeshaShafi #AliZafar#Pakistan.”

Also, in a community petition on Avaaz that kick-started on May 1 andcalled out to users to sign off their voice for the preliminary, the appealrequested that the #MeToo movement be called out for “transparency, astructural framework to avoid abuse and remain free from any political orpersonal vendettas.” Because, with all such great movements, comes greatresponsibility. This is the kind of responsibility to be part and parcel ofa narrative that is not so easily abused, manipulated for advantage, orused to further personal bias and feed purported feminist claims.

By: Raima Khan