The dispute began in April 2018 when Meesha Shafi, now 44, publicly accused Ali Zafar of sexual harassment through a series of posts on X, then known as Twitter. In her statement, she alleged that the incidents had occurred more than once

A court in Lahore has ruled in favour of Pakistani singer and actor Ali Zafar in a defamation case filed against fellow singer Meesha Shafi. The court directed Shafi to pay damages of 5 million Pakistani rupees (approximately $17,900) to Zafar. The case dates back to 2018, when Zafar filed a defamation suit after Shafi accused him of sexual harassment in one of Pakistan’s most discussed cases linked to the global #MeToo movement.

According to reports by Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn, the court held that a social media post shared by Shafi in 2018, along with an interview she gave to a lifestyle magazine, contained “false, defamatory and injurious imputations” against Zafar. The ruling reportedly stated that allegations of sexual harassment of a physical nature had not been proven to be true or made in the public interest, and therefore amounted to defamation.

The court also ordered that Shafi be “permanently restrained from repeating, publishing, or causing to be published, directly or indirectly, the aforesaid defamatory allegations of sexual harassment of a physical nature against the plaintiff, in any form of media”.

Shafi’s lawyer, Nighat Dad, confirmed that the decision would be challenged in a higher court. Speaking to Al Jazeera, she said the legal team plans to appeal the ruling in the High Court. “This is far from the end of the road,” Dad said, adding that other legal proceedings related to the case are still ongoing.