Pakistani actress Meesha Shafi has accused actor Ali Zafar of sexual harassment and shared her story on social media. Aiming to encourage women to speak out, she posted a letter on Twitter, and we guess she succeeded in achieving what he was aiming to. After her accusations came to light, many other women shared similar experiences with the actor-singer Ali Zafar and took to social media to share them.

A makeup artist, Leena Ghani, thanked the actress for giving her courage to speak and wrote, “Seeing Meesha’s courage it’s impossible for me to not speak now, not only in support of her but also to say she’s not alone. In the many years, I have known Ali, he has on several occasions crossed boundaries of what is appropriate behaviour between friends.”

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“Today I speak out because of recent events between Meesha and Ali and today I have to find the courage to say she isn’t and has not been alone,” she added.

Thank you @itsmeeshashafi for your courage and your bravery. It’s never easy. But that should never silence us. I am in total solidarity with you. You are not alone in this because #Metoo #TimesUp #WeBelieveYou pic.twitter.com/hkQ61bqnFH

— Leena (@Leena_Ghani) April 19, 2018

A journalist Maham Javaid shared the incident where Ali Zafar tried to pull in her cousin into a restroom. She wrote, “Ali Zafar from many many years ago when Ali Zafar tried to kiss my cousin and pull my cousin into a restroom with him.”

“This was on a boat on the way to a party at the Yacht Club between 2004-2005. Why don’t I remember the date? Because this is what’s crazy: in those days such sexual harassment was such a non-issue and simultaneously such a taboo that we hardly spoke about it,” she further added.

Thank you @itsmeeshashafi for your courage and your bravery. It’s never easy. But that should never silence us. I am in total solidarity with you. You are not alone in this because #Metoo #TimesUp #WeBelieveYou pic.twitter.com/hkQ61bqnFH

— Leena (@Leena_Ghani) April 19, 2018

A blogger named Human Raza also posted about the time when Ali Zafar touched her inappropriately in a public event.

@itsmeeshashafi you’re not alone. Please read this. #metoo @merabichrayaar @HaadeaP pic.twitter.com/3KzIenHnQn

— Humna Raza (@HumnaRaza) April 19, 2018

On Thursday, Pakistani actress Meesha Shafi accused Ali Zafar of sexually harassing her on several occasions. The actress took to Twitter to break her silence and mentioned that she was speaking now to break “the culture of silence that permeates through our society”.

Sharing this because I believe that by speaking out about my own experience of sexual harassment, I will break the culture of silence that permeates through our society. It is not easy to speak out.. but it is harder to stay silent. My conscience will not allow it anymore #MeToo pic.twitter.com/iwex7e1NLZ

— Meesha Shafi (@itsmeeshashafi) April 19, 2018

However, Ali on Thursday denied Shafi’s claim, saying he would take this allegation through the courts of law.

“I am a strong believer that the truth always prevails,” he tweeted.

pic.twitter.com/j1C34onEXC

— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) April 19, 2018

Although Pakistan’s entertainment industry has remained largely mum on the issue, actor-writer Osman Khalid Butt and model-actress Urwa Hocane have tweeted in support of Shafi, reported Geo News.

A woman breaks her silence about abuse, withstands character assassination & further abuse on social media, her story turns into memes & tone-deaf jokes that trivialize the issue, she fears ostracization – but suuuuure, she did it for the cheap publicity. https://t.co/eDeOpXYUox

— Osman Khalid Butt (@aClockworkObi) April 19, 2018

More power to you ! @itsmeeshashafi 👊🏻 https://t.co/aN8m8zNQq6

— URWA HOCANE (@VJURWA) April 19, 2018

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Meanwhile, actor Maya Ali posted on Instagram saying she respects Ali and “we shouldn’t judge anyone’s character” until the truth comes out.

I’m not here to say who is wrong and who is right or who did what and who didn’t… Let’s say, I haven’t known him for long, but I have been working with him since 1 year, we shot our film in Lahore and then we were all together in Poland to shoot the rest of the film and I never ever got any kind of that vibe from him… I always found him talking to his wife and kids on FaceTime and this made me a fan of him, because he would always share his good and bad moments with his wife and family… When we were on set or in any restaurant with the whole team he would always make sure that he was sharing these moments with her… I am not judging anyone nor giving any clarification on anyone’s behalf, and we can’t judge the one side of a book… I respect this man @ali_zafar and want the truth to come out, until then we shouldn’t judge anyone’s character…🙏🏻🙏🏻

A post shared by Maya Ali (@official_mayaali) on Apr 19, 2018 at 10:35am PDT

-With IANS inputs