Entertainment

Women’s rights groups object to Ali Zafar receiving civil award, demand withdrawal of decision

Various women’s rights groups have objected to the awarding of the civil award to singer Ali Zafar and demanded that the decision be reconsidered and withdrawn.

It may be recalled that the President had announced civil awards for 184 national and foreign personalities on the occasion of ‘Independence Day’ on August 14 this year.

This year, the President has awarded Sitara-e-Shujaat for 24 personalities, Sitara-e-Imtiaz for 27, Tamgha-e-Shujaat for 23, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for 46, Nishan-e-Imtiaz for 7, Hilal-e-Imtiaz for 2, Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam for one. Sitara-e-Pakistan for 2, Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam for 6, Sitara-e-Khidmat for one, Pakistan Medal for one, Quaid-e-Azam Medal for one and Presidential Medal of Excellence for 44 personalities were announced.

The Medal of Excellence is a civic award by the Government of Pakistan which is given once a year to those who have excelled in literature, arts, sports, medicine, science and other fields in Pakistan. Among those nominated for the award is singer Ali Zafar.

Ali Zafar also expressed happiness over the nomination for the Presidential Medal of Excellence by the Government of Pakistan and termed the nomination as a great honor.

A few days later, actress Effat Omar tweeted a critical tweet about the Civil Awards nomination but did not name anyone.

Effat Omar wrote that only in Pakistan is it possible for an award to be given by the government to a person allegedly involved in harassment.

She did not specify in her tweet who she was referring to, but people speculated that Effat Omar was talking about singer Ali Zafar.

After which the Women’s March, Women’s Independence March, Women’s Action Forum and Women’s Movement in a letter to President Arif Ali and Prime Minister Imran Khan have asked to reconsider the decision to give a civil award to Ali Zafar. ۔

“We are working to make Pakistani society more equitable, to provide justice to women facing sexual harassment, and to eliminate violence in the workplace as a top priority,” the letter said.

“We believe that the current government is working on a mandate to include equality and justice in all political institutions and machinery, and that it has a special duty to protect Pakistani women, trans women and other backward classes,” the letter said.

“We are deeply concerned about the decision of the President’s Office to award the Medal of Excellence to Ali Zafar as Ali Zafar has been charged with sexual harassment and the cases are still ongoing,” it said.

“We do not want to see the legacy of this medal tarnished,” the letter said.

It was further said that everyone is innocent till found guilty but an appeal against Ali Zafar regarding harassment is pending in the Supreme Court and a defamation case is pending in the Additional District Court Lahore while the award was given. The time to leave is very disturbing and insensitive.

The letter said the decision was troubling because it gave the impression that the state of Pakistan was unwittingly standing by a person facing sexual harassment charges, regardless of pending decisions.

It is insensitive because it opposes the testimony of many women and promotes a culture where sexual misconduct is not taken seriously.

The letter called for a review of this year’s election and demanded that it be postponed until all legal matters related to the allegations against the nominee have been resolved.

At the same time, the Prime Minister was asked to consider making the workplace free from harassment.

It requested that these matters be reviewed immediately as the offices of the Government of Pakistan should not be associated with discriminatory systems, logos, standards.

* Photo: Instagram

It is believed that many people, especially women, started making allegations against Ali Zafar on social media after April 2018, when Mesha Shafi accused him of sexual harassment through tweets.

Read also: Mesha Shafi also files Rs 2 billion damages claim against Ali Zafar

Ali Zafar had denied the allegations of Mesha Shafi and later filed a claim for Rs 1 billion in the Sessions Court in Lahore for making false allegations against the singer, which has been the subject of dozens of hearings.

The statements of Ali Zafar and his 11 witnesses have been completed in the Sessions Court and now the statements of Mesha Shafi’s witnesses will be recorded. In the same case, Mesha Shafi and his mother actress Saba Hameed have also recorded their statements.

In the same court, Mesha Shafi has also filed a claim for Rs 2 billion damages against Ali Zafar, on which the court has stayed the hearing and ordered that the case of Ali Zafar’s compensation will be decided first.

It should be noted that two of the women who accused Ali Zafar of harassment have also apologized, including Twitter user Sufi and female blogger and social media activist Mahesh Ijaz

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