ISLAMABAD Syed Farhan Ali, the manager of Ms. MeeshalinkShafi,has said that he was present at the jamming session but didn’t see any actof sexual harassment by Ali Zafar as alleged by Ms. Shafi.
“I was present in the jamming session held in the house of the plaintiff,Ali Zafar. I didn’t see any act of sexual harassment by the plaintiff asalleged by the defendant,” said Mr. Farhan Ali while recording hisstatement in a defamation suit filed by Ali Zafar against Ms. Shafi.
Ms. Farhan said that in the (Pepsi’s) battle of bands show, the panelistswere Atif Aslam, Fawad Khan, and Ms. Meesha. “Prior to the shooting ofsecond season show, the management told us that Ali Zafar stood replacedfor Atif Aslam. On the same night, Ms. Meesha informed me that she wouldnot work with him,” he added.
Ms. Farhan said that this was the first time, she told me that that theplaintiff sexually harassed her in the past.
In my presence, Ms. Shafi told the management of Pepsi that she would notwork with Ali Zafar but she further stated that she would not lose her ownwork as she was working prior to this induction of Ali Zafar.
Earlier Rizwan Raees, who has been both Ali Zafar’s and Meesha’s manager,testified in court that Meesha tried to threaten and blackmail Ali Zafar topull out of a hefty amount from the multinational company and have Aliremoved from it.
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Zafar also claimed in his statement in court that before accusing himpublicly, Shafi had sent him a message through his manager Rizwan Raees,telling him to “stay away from the Pepsi contract or she would levelallegation of sexual harassment against him.”
“Meesha not only blackmailed Ali but also the multinational beveragecompany to extort more money from them and drop Ali Zafar from therecording. However, Ali refused to be threatened or blackmailed so she wentahead with the false allegation” said Shafi’s former manager.
Prior to Zafar, 12 eyewitnesses including three women testified in thecourt under oath that the alleged harassment did not take place and infact, Ms Shafi was seen being overtly friendly with Mr. Zafar on severaloccasions.
