"Just another bad example of abuse of power and the ways in which the law is weaponised to silence women."

(Short one today, with a slight tangent)

Last week saw Pakistani media outlets, including Dawn News - Pakistan’s equivalent of the New York Times or the Guardian - publishing articles that erroneously claimed that the Pakistani musician Meesha Shafi had been found “guilty” of “running a vilification campaign” against the singer Ali Zafar, whom she filed a sexual harassment case against in May 2018, according to a challan (or official notice) issued by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency. According to the Dawn article (which carries the byline “The Newspaper’s Staff Reporter”) and others, the FIA claimed that:

Ms Shafi posted defamatory and false allegations of sexual harassment against Ali Zafar in April 19, 2018 but she failed to produce any witnesses before it in favour of her allegations.

As can be expected, and quite rightly, Meesha Shafi’s legal team pushed back against this spurious claim, putting out a press release on December 16th, the body of which I have reproduced below:

We understand that the news regarding the submission of an incomplete investigation report ("interim challan") by FIA is being misinterpreted by certain circles as part of a smear campaign against Meesha Shafi. It is being repeatedly erroneously reported and shared that Meesha Shafi has been held "guilty" of a smear campaign. This reporting is highly misleading because no court of law has given the verdict, in fact the trial has not even begun. The challan, that too incomplete, is FIA's findings which in our opinion is based on a deeply flawed understanding of the law. The fundamental principle of law is that the investigation agency, i.e. FIA, has to prove the case against Meesha Shafi beyond reasonable doubt during trial which has yet to happen. We are confident that Meesha Shafi and others named in the FIR will not be found guilty by the concerned judicial authorities and courts. FIA and other agencies are well-known to have always allowed itself to be used by powerful and influential people in this country. The case against Meesha Shafi is just another bad example of abuse of power and the ways in which the law is weaponised to silence women.

Soch Fact Check, which focuses on Pakistani media and social media, covered the misleading media narratives surrounding the challan, and spoke with legal experts in Pakistan that corroborated the concerns of Ms. Shafi and her legal team. Ameer Nausherwan Adil, Advocate of the Sindh High Court, told Soch that “The court will find her guilty, not the FIA.” This has been echoed by digital/women’s rights activists and legal experts such as Sara Malkani, legal advisor to the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Farieha Aziz, co-founder of Bolo Bhi.

Soch also spoke with the activist and lawyer Imaan Mazari - whose extensive and detailed overview of Meesha Shafi’s case against Ali Zafar, and why it is so important in the context of women’s rights in Pakistan, is recommended reading - who asserts

that this a clear case of misreporting. The FIA can only submit the findings of their investigation to the trial court, according to which they have recommended that a case be pursued against Meesha under Section 20 of PECA. The FIA can’t issue a verdict on Meesha’s guilt, she states, it can only investigate whether Meesha’s posts on Ali Zafar were defamatory.

Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, which has been weaponised by Ali Zafar to silence allegations of sexual harassment against him, concerns itself with:

Offences against dignity of a natural person.— (1) Whoever intentionally and publicly exhibits or displays or transmits any information through any information system, which he knows to be false, and intimidates or harms the reputation or privacy of a natural person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or with both (sic)

(Harvey Weinstein’s furiously scribbling down notes in a prison cell as we speak.*)

I’ve written about the impact of the PECA on the rights of Pakistani citizens. Promoted as supposedly protecting the people of Pakistan, the PECA has been designed to do everything but that, and instead works against marginalised and vulnerable groups - Section 20 of the PECA, for instance, has ostensibly been put into place to tackle cyber-harassment.

Going by the wording of Section 20, however, it is clear that not only is Ali Zafar using it to go after victims of sexual harassment, but that the FIA - which is “the investigative body which is designated for investigating offences under the Act” - is doing the same thing, reinforcing long-held concerns that victims of sexual harassment have had towards the agency, of victim-blaming and moralistic allegiances with powerful abusers. As Hiba Akbar writes in The News:

The PECA Rules bar the FIA from disclosing identities of those involved, unless required by law or for furthering the investigation. One cannot see how this disclosure furthered the investigation. Yet, how did the contents of the interim challan submitted to court, make it to the press? In fact, how did the identities of the accused persons make it to the press as early as September, when the registration of an FIR was allowed?

Much like Harvey Weinstein and scores of high profile men accused of sexual harassment (and worse), Ali Zafar has a cadre of supporters in media and government circles. Protest as he might about harm to his reputation and livelihood, he’s still on billboards across Pakistan, hawking soft drinks; his film Teefa in Trouble can still be found on Netflix; in August of this he was given the Government of Pakistan’s “Pride of Performance” award, given to those that made "an especially meritorious contribution to the field of literature, art, sports, science and education".

His supporters have not just gone after Meesha Shafi and her legal team, but after high profile and respected activists in Pakistan, such as Marvi Samed, Leena Ghani, Nighat Dad (part of Meesha Shafi’s legal team and the Executive Director of the Pakistani digital rights organisation, Digital Rights Foundation), the Aurat March, and celebrated Nobel prize winner and activist Malala Yousafzai. Each of them (and others) has been accused of being funded by the US government.** One has only to go to Twitter to find scores of hateful messages accusing them and others of lying and being anti-state. That the Pakistani media - which itself has been attacked in the past by various Pakistani governments and intelligence agencies - is taking part and sensationalising a case that centres on sexual harassment is troubling.

Pakistan is a country that purports to honour and respect women, but in reality does little to actually protect them or provide them with any actual equity and equality. Women are blamed for their own harassment and assaults, and will be put in danger by social and political institutions if they embarrass powerful and influential people. The late social media celebrity and activist Qandeel Baloch, for example, who was murdered by her brother in an “honour” killing, had her personal information including her passport and national ID card (which listed her real name) put up on television screens by news anchors, which helped people to track her family down and harass them and her, which led to her death.

To quote Hiba Akbar once more,

However, irresponsible reports and alleged leaks from the FIA jump across all these essential steps to quickly pronounce guilt or innocence, perhaps to answer to a desire in the public for summary judgement. This becomes a fundamental impediment to the accused’s right to fair trial. In doing so, the press also abdicates its fundamental duty to deliver accurate news to the public.

*Not really, but who knows? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

** A tired, conspiratorial canard that has its roots in the Cold War, and which has been taken up with a vengeance (often switching out the US for India, Israel etc for a bit of variety) by jingoistic nationalists against Pakistani activists, artists and other patriots who call truth to power because they love their country and wish it “to be set right.”