A Lahore sessions court on Thursday stayed proceedings in Meesha Shafi's defamation case against Ali Zafar.

Additional Sessions Judge Amjad Ali Shah presided over the hearing. The court said that until Zafar's defamation petition against Shafi is not decided, a verdict will not be announced.

Earlier, Zafar had filed a petition in the sessions court, asking for the verdict in Shafi's defamation case against him to not be announced until his petition is decided.

The petition said: "It is a settled principle of law that the court shall not proceed with the trial of any subsequent suit in which the matter in issue is also directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties under the same title and the previous suit is pending adjudication before the court of competent jurisdiction."

In 2018, Shafi had accused Zafar of harassing her "on more than two occasions". In response, Zafar had filed a defamation suit worth Rs1 billion against her, saying that her "baseless and unfounded" accusations had allegedly tarnished his reputation.

In September 2019, Meesha Shafi filed a Rs2 billion damages suit in a sessions court against Zafar for making false allegations against her on media.