Singer, Meesha Shafi has won a civil revision challenge at the Lahore High Court against a stay order obtained by Ali Zafar against a defamation suit which Meesha had filed against him.
The stay order that was issued on February 13, 2020 issued by the trial court had stopped the proceedings of a civil defamation case filed by Meesha Shafi in 2019 under the Defamation Ordinance 2002 for false and defamatory statements made by Ali Zafar in the media and social media.
In its application for a stay order against Meesha’s defamation case, Ali Zafar had argued that Meesha’s suit should be stayed until a separate defamation case filed by Ali Zafar is decided. However, the Lahore High Court has overturned this order by accepting a civil revision challenge which has stated that the cause of action of the two suits is sufficiently different and the trial against Ali Zafar can proceed and Meesha Shafi’s legal team can now pursue the case against Ali Zafar.
What is Meesha’s defamation suit?
Meesha Shafi had filed a case on September 17, 2019 pertaining to a defamatory smear campaign by Ali Zafar. In the suit, Meesha contended that statements made by Ali Zafar on a private Pakistani news channel on falsely stated that she was a “liar” and that she made sexual harassment allegations to obtain fame and Canadian immigration.
Ali also stated that Meesha wanted to “become another Malala Yousafzai”, implying that Malala fabricated her assassination attempt.
Meesha Shafi reacted to the news, thanking her legal team and all those who support her.
