Harassment Controversy: Meesha Shafi Gives Up LSA Nomination For Best Song

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Harassment controversy: Meesha Shafi gives up LSA nomination for best song

Singer Meesha Shafi’s song ‘Mein’ was nominated for the best song but she has demanded that her name and work be removed from the list of nominees.

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 23rd April, 2019) The nominations for the 18th Lux Style Awards (LSA) 2019 have been announced.

The LSA will give away awards in 24 different categories of fashion and entertainment.

Just as the nominations were announced, stars are excited for the mega event. However, some of the celebrities have demanded to withdraw their nominations in view of the sexual harassment controversy between Ali Zafar and Meesha Shafi.

Singer Meesha Shafi’s song ‘Mein’ was nominated for the best song but she has demanded that her name and work be removed from the list of nominees.

In a post on Twitter, Meesha Shafi thanked Eman Suleman, Generation and Saima Bargfrede for demanding to withdraw their LSA nominations in Meesha’s support.

Meesha said they have said and done is what she considers her award.

“In a perfect world, I would love to see women retain their space in the industry while being safe, so that the cost of speaking up is minimized, or even done away with altogether. A cost which is all too high at present. Our boycotts should not overshadow our achievements. With brave women like these, I feel optimistic about getting there one day,” she wrote.

About her song 'Mein', she is this is a song about finding our true self. “Being aligned with a higher purpose. Being our own hero and being enough.

I wrote it at a particularly difficult time in my life. When I needed to be all those things.”

“'Mein' stands nominated for the best song at the Lux Style Awards 2019. The irony is not lost on me given the current circumstances and I would kindly request that my name and work be removed from the list of nominees,” she added.

Meesha Shafi had alleged her colleague Ali Zafar of sexual harassment in a tweet in June, 2018.

Meesha said that she is sharing this because she believes that by speaking out about her own experience of sexual harassment, she will break the culture of silence that permeates through our society.

Using the #Metoo hashtag, Shafi added that it is not easy to speak out but it is harder to stay silent. “My conscience will not allow it anymore,” she added.

Meesha had filed a complaint against Ali Zafar under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 while Ali Zafar had also sent a legal notice to co-artist Meesha Shafi for her allegations.

The Teefa in Trouble star had filed a defamation suit in a court in Lahore through his lawyer, asking for an apology from Meesha Shafi for levelling baseless allegations and pay Rs1 billion in damages.

The case is under proceeding.