KARACHI: 15 days after Meesha Shafi came forward with claims of Ali Zafar sexually harassing her, another woman has made a similar revelation. Karachi-based marketing executive, Noor E Sehar, has accused Ali Zafar of sexually harassing her in Lahore a year ago.
In response of Meesha’s allegations, Zafar had slammed a Rs100 crore defamation lawsuit on Shafi. No further media reports were received on the matter until Noor, in an interview to an online media source, came forward with her own experience.
Noor is a regular at industry events given the nature of her job and claims that Zafar made repeated unwanted sexual advances at her during a soiree hosted by a famous fashion designer.
“It was a party in Lahore, I went to it with my friend. Ali Zafar came in a little later into the night and I noticed that he kept looking at me for some time. Eventually, he came up to me and tried to strike a conversation. I’m normally very shy so I wasn’t really responding much. He kept trying to talk for a really long time, would leave and then come back. But as time went by, he kept trying to get close to me. It was a party and the music was loud so he kept closing in on me, talking to me in my ear and forcefully holding my hands and touching them in a weird manner. I told him three times, literally my words were, “I’m not interested”. I think I said the same to him two more times, that I’m not interested, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Towards the end of the night, he invited me to another singer’s house. Of course, I didn’t go,” said Noor.
In reply to a question about why she chose to tell her story now, Noor said that she has been vocal about it on a personal level.
“To be honest, I haven’t been hiding this incident, I’ve spoken to my friends about it. I never spoke about it publicly because I never really found the right platform. Regarding the backlash, I haven’t really thought about it. But the reason why I’m speaking up now, is because I don’t want to regret not speaking later.”
Ali Zafar has by now been accused multiple times by different women. The matter is expected to be sorted out in court.
