The Meesha Shafi – Ali Zafar controversy has reached new heights, with both of them making media appearances for the first time, after almost a year of the beginning of the whole thing.

In the past two weeks, a number of things have happened. Firstly, a colossal number of women and brands chose to withdraw their LSA nominations by stating Ali Zafar’s nomination as a reason behind their withdrawal. This was followed by Ali Zafar speaking to media, in front of a courtroom in Lahore and then making three consecutive appearances in three different television shows. He challenged Meesha Shafi to come in front of the media and a court and tell her side of the story.

Meesha Shafi’s first television interview, post harassment allegations

In the aftermath of Ali’s interviews and crying episodes, Meesha’s legal team finally responded, yesterday. Here is the full post from her lawyer, Nighat Dad.

Following the statement, Meesha appeared on a programme at Geo News titled Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada key Sath,  a day after Ali Zafar appeared on the same channel. Here is a summary of everything that she revealed on the show.

Communication prior to going public

Meesha began by telling Shahzaib that she never wished to go public with the whole thing, to begin with. She had tried communicating her concerns to Ali Zafar through his representative and had a long meeting with him but nothing really became of it. Although, it is important to note that the representative did ask Meesha if an apology from Ali Zafar would work (which insinuates that Ali Zafar did think that he was guilty). Meesha even told the same representative that she could think about accepting an apology but according to her, it never came and when everything failed, she had to go public with her allegations for she realized that it was about time that she thought about herself too.

While answering the questions about why she performed with Ali after the incident happened, Meesha said that it was a part of her contract and that the organizers had requested her to do that. She further clarified that the message she sent in the WhatsApp group for the same concert was just her trying to “exit a professional affiliation cordially” and that’s exactly why she thanked Ali too.

Moreover, Meesha clarified that one of her ex-managers who accused her of employing blackmail to get things done was actually super unprofessional during the brief time period he worked with her. She did send him an angry message in her frustration so it is important to understand the context of it all.

A final word

Upon being asked if she would like to resolve the issue, out of court as per Ali’s offer, Meesha said that she doesn’t even understand what he is offering. When she does, she may consider it. Meesha also said that instead of putting all the pressure on her to provide and produce evidence, our legal system should do a better job and that she is not the only one who has spoken up against Ali Zafar, there have been several other victims too.

Here is the entire interview:

What do you think of the whole situation? Let us know in the comments.