LAHORE: Singer-actor Ali Zafar on Tuesday alleged before a sessions court that fellow singer Meesha Shafi’s request to stay proceedings of a Rs1 billion defamation suit against her was no more than a delaying tactic.

“There is no nexus between the fate of a civil and criminal litigation nor would the outcome of one effect result from the other,” Zafar said in a written response his counsel filed before the court against an application by Shafi.

Shafi through her counsel Advocate Saqib Jillani had urged the court to stay the ongoing proceedings in the suit till a decision of a first information report (FIR) registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against her and her witnesses over alleged violation of cybercrime laws. She claimed that the plaintiff (Zafar) got the case registered to harass her witnesses in the suit.

Zafar in his reply rejected the allegation, saying the defendant filed a list of 20 witnesses to be presented before the court, however, the FIR had been registered against four of them on the allegation of running a smear campaign on social media against him.

He asked the court to dismiss Shafi’s application for being false, frivolous and misconceived.

The defendant’s counsel urged the court to decide the application first.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Yasar Hayat adjourned hearing till Oct 17 and sought further arguments from both sides.

Besides Shafi, her witnesses Iffat Omar, Leena Ghani, Humna Raza and Maham Javed were booked in the case under Section 20 of Prevention of Electronic Crime Act, 2016.

Submitting the application on behalf Shafi, her counsel had said on Saturday that the FIA lodged a frivolous FIR at the behest of Zafar against his client and eight others, including her witnesses.

He said the FIR was a blatant attempt to silence the witnesses of the defendant at a critical stage of the trial when the defendant was producing her witnesses before the court.

He pleaded that the defendant’s right to a fair trial under Article 10-A of the Constitution would be severely impaired if her witnesses were unable to narrate the truth freely and without pressure on account of harassment and intimidation by the FIA and the plaintiff.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2020