Meesha Shafi has been in the spotlight for her legal battle with singer-actor Ali Zafar for quite some time now. While she has not been in the headlines for work-related projects, her personal life has been under the radar for many reasons, with many internet users calling her out for a no-show in court during multiple scheduled hearings, following the allegations of sexual harassment she levelled against the Channo singer back in 2018. Diving into the limelight once again with her recent Instagram post, which featured a portrait of herself reworked by renowned artist Sara Shakeel, the Aya Lariye crooner talked about being ‘woke’. She started off with, “We all have our share of struggles. Some hidden, some in plain view. We all pine and bicker about the way things are. Get into heated debates. Get ourselves worked up into a verbal frenzy of passion.” Her post grabbed the attention of her fans as well as netizens on the photo-sharing platform.
She shared how the ‘passion’ could be a tool to “convince someone to change the way they think. Or the passion to persuade them to at least be somewhat outraged by the status quo.” Shafi continued, “But when passion doesn’t become the fuel with which to propel ourselves into taking action, it turns into procrastination. And then guilt…till finally, it morphs into self-loathing. To anyone reading this … next time you find yourself engaged in armchair wokeness, or even WhatsApp wokeness, before working yourself up into too much of a fury, pause and ask yourself, ‘Is any of this going to change anything? Am I ready to change anything? Or am I just sheeping along with a herd of reluctant activists?’ Criticising the herd mentality with such fervor, critics become a whole new flock all unto themselves.”
Shafi weighed in on how change can be “painful and scary and hard” while drawing comparisons to giving birth and labour pains. “People who set out to make changes sometimes make it look easy. It’s not. Don’t be fooled!” Singing praises for Shafi, one fan commented, “Goosebumps reading this. So much truth. Thank you for always saying what needs to be said so powerfully and unapologetically. Thank you for using your influence to be a voice of truth.” Hailing her as the “Queen”, another added, “You are and will always be the trailblazer for women empowerment in this country. More power to you.” Other responses were, “You go girl!”, “You are a hero in so many people’s eyes” and “What a powerful caption.”
In the post, Shafi claimed that those who fight for change are called all kinds of harsh names until they die. “Because then, they’re no longer threatening. Once they’re gone, you cannot put gag orders on them. Once they’re gone, you can’t bully them any longer. Once they’re gone, you cannot ban them,” she stated. “But today’s closet woke folks, will tomorrow call them heroes? This is how heroes are recognised. Always late, because they are ahead of their time. After all, if they weren’t, what could they possibly change?” Shafi’s statement about ‘heroes’ has left Instagram users divided. While some are cheering her on, others have raised eyebrows, questioning where she has been all this time.
“It’s not such a good argument to convince yourself to satisfy your ego that you’re that “hero” which people will vouch for after you’re gone. But no, you’re the ‘gone girl’ who left without a fight that you promise,” read a comment which has now been deleted from Shafi’s profile. Last year, reports of her moving to Canada with her family made the rounds. Speaking about the same, the user added, “You expect everyone else to fight for you while basking in front of your bonfire in your cozy home in Canada. Had you fought like a hero, you would be hailed as one. Had you stayed in Pakistan and gone to every court hearing, standing there and fighting with your guts, then even if you lost people would have said you tried. Instead, you never showed up and escaped. So darling, do read up on what makes heroes. They fight, not run away.”
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A user named Zainab Khan questioned, “Considering that you have written a whole post against being silenced and gag orders and then you are the one silencing everyone who asks you any question that you don’t like by deleting comments and most likely muting them, makes no sense Meesha. If you want to be vocal and express your opinion, you should let others do the same no?” Khan immediately received a response from Shafi, who replied with, “If I was not silenced and gagged, I would answer all your questions. But I am. So, I find it triggering and stifling to see questions which I am being stopped from answering.” Throwing shade at her ongoing tussle with Zafar, Shafi added, “You are welcome to go and study all the court records which are public documents.” She requested the user to “think for yourself when and if you do.” But the aforementioned user did not budge and remained adamant in asking Shafi one last question, “Why aren’t you appearing in the court and fighting your case there and defending yourself? You can simply say ‘I will be in court on the next date to answer any questions put my way and say all that I have been wanting to on the appropriate forum.”