Following Jami’s accusations of rape, the CEO of Dawn Media Group, Hameed Haroon, filed a defamation suit against Jami. The lawsuit demanded Jami to issue an unconditional apology on all social media platforms that he had used to accuse Hameed Haroon and monetary compensation against the allegations. However, Jami point blankly refused to apologize and stated that he had to do a lot more for victims of sexual harassment and abuse.
News then went ripe, that Jami had fled the country to avoid the legal proceedings of the case and that he had deserted all victims he promised support. Also, Jami’s absence from social media also proved as a testament against him.
The Truth
After a long silence, the ace film director has now finally decided to address all accusations being hurled at him and tackle each and every claim that is coming his way.
Talking to Galaxy Lollywood, Jami shared that he had momentarily disabled his Facebook for reasons of his own. “I had deactivated my Facebook for some time because my family and friends stated that I should, but now I’ve realized I need to be vocal about everything,” said Jami.
“I would like to take this opportunity to tell people that I’m in Pakistan for the past nine months and I have been regularly attending my hearings and fighting my case. Alone,” added Jami stating that people who had brought him in this situation had bowed out themselves and apologized to those they had accused.
The Backdrop
In 2019, Jami came out in the open with rape accusations against Hameed Haroon, CEO of Dawn Media Group. He stated that he only chose to make his ordeal public after the #MeToo movement in the country started to be discredited following the suicide of a university professor facing a rape allegation. After going public, the Operation 021 filmmaker mentioned in several tweets that the journalist community was protecting “its own,” but that he was not going to give up the fight to bring the alleged culprit to the book.
Sharing his ordeal, Jami mentioned that he had shared the details among his friends about the alleged incident and the perpetrator he held responsible, however, no one stood by his side. “On my buddies from the TV commercial industry — not a single one privately or overtly came out in support. The Gang, the guy gang all vanished. Make-up artists, the directors, the producers, wardrobe icons no one. Only a few who believe in truth came out like Maheen Khan and Mehreen Jabbar,” he lamented.
Describing his pain, the Moor director stated, “(After the rape) my life was finished. I had been married for just two years. My work was affected. I’d get into fights. I’d start to scream…My brain doesn’t seem to function. It takes so much energy to focus on a film. I can’t focus. It takes me years to finish a film. People make a film in four months. Moor took five years. O21 took three years. Jugnu, a Sindhi film, has already taken two and a half years.”
What’s Next?
Now, talking to Galaxy Lollywood, Jami shared that he is and will keep fighting. “I am being told to apologize but since I have a lot of other victims backing me up, I have realized this isn’t my case alone and I have to keep fighting. I’m currently fighting three cases all alone, and I intend to stand strong. I will not spare anyone,” says Jami adding that he had been fighting a case against his childhood friend of 13 years and that while others had apologized and called off their case, he would never do so. “I have repeatedly told them to put me in jail if they want to but I will not call off my case or apologize,” stated the Moor directed.
Shedding insight on what he had been up to, Jami stated, “I’m in Pakistan and I’ve been working on an extensive project in Pakistan only for the past 14 months.
