LAHORE: In a counter-claim singer Meesha Shafi on Wednesday filed a defamation suit against singer-actor Ali Zafar accusing him of running a character assassination campaign against her after she reported incidents of sexual harassment caused by him.

In the suit filed with the sessions court, she sought a court decree against Zafar directing him to pay Rs2 billion as damages to her.

Ms Shafi states that Zafar tarnished her reputation and public image by levelling false allegations. She said the defendant claimed that she reported the incidents of sexual harassment only to obtain nationality of Canada or to mint money from him.

She said the defendant also tried to brand her as a person having disrespect for courts.

A court is already seized with a similar suit by Zafar against Ms Shafi for the recovery of Rs1 billion as damages.

In his suit, Zafar said Shafi through a tweet levelled baseless allegations of sexual harassment against him, which resulted in tarnishing his image in public while his family had been facing agony and pain.

He said she failed to delete the tweet and issue an apology based on the tweet despite a legal notice served on her.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019