Back in 2018, when Meesha Shafi first levelled allegations of sexual harassment against actor-singer Ali Zafar, several Pakistani women followed suit. Among them was blogger Humna Raza, who called out the Channo crooner for being inappropriate towards her on one occasion. Sharing a detailed note on Twitter at the time, Raza spoke of the ordeal she faced as a fan when she requested Zafar for a selfie during a public event. She garnered the support of many who stood by her and demanded a safer environment for women. Raza insisted that she could not remain silent anymore and could not see Shafi suffer alone which is why she mustered the courage to speak up.
@AliZafarsays pic.twitter.com/BQqcstOpRZ
— Humna Raza (@HumnaRaza) October 9, 2020
In a now-deleted post which Raza had directed to Shafi back then, she had written, “You’re not alone. Please read this.” In a rather huge turn of events and more than two years later, Raza has retracted her stance and apologized for her misleading tweet. Taking to the micro-blogging site, she wrote, “After Ms Shafi made her tweet against Ali Zafar on 19th April 2018, I also tweeted saying that I felt uncomfortable around him while taking a selfie with him as a fan. I would like to clarify that it was a confusion on my part that I had obviously misunderstood. In hindsight, it was an innocent selfie in an amicable environment that I read too much into.”
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Raza continued, “I should not have tweeted something so misleading and I am aware of how it got blown out of proportion. My own statement was also used against Ali Zafar, damaging his reputation and causing immense distress and agony to him and his family which I really and truly regret. I am very sorry and will use my platform more responsibly. I wish Ali Zafar and his family nothing but the best of health and happiness.” She signed off the apology letter and added a post saying, “This is my authentic account, that was deactivated in the past due to other personal reasons. I reactivated it back in June.”