Ali Zafar | Pakistan

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday upheld a trial court order restraining singer Meesha Shafi from making statements related to sexual harassment allegations against actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar until the conclusion of the defamation suit filed by the latter against the former. In the written order seen by Dawn, Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad observed that the veracity of the allegations cannot be determined without recording evidence and that repeated public statements while the matter was sub judice could amount to a “parallel media trial, which is neither permissible nor desirable in the interest of justice and fair adjudication”. The judge subsequently dismissed the plea filed by Shafi challenging the gag order issued by the trial court on Jan 24, 2019. Zafar had claimed that the allegations levelled against him by Shafi were false and had damaged his reputation. Along with the defamation suit, he had sought an interim injunction to prevent the defendant female singer from issuing further statement...

ISLAMABAD: Barbs flew in the Senate on Friday with the opposition taking the government to task over its policies and demanding a parliamentary probe into “institutional overreach” and “election fraud”. In response, the government accused the opposition of committing “economic terrorism” while also chiding it for the Results Transmission System (RTS) fiasco in the 2018 general polls. Speaking on a calling-attention notice, PTI’s Ali Zafar, the party’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, said Parliament had been made irrelevant and meaningless. His speech was interrupted several times by the members of the treasury benches, who loudly objected to his remarks. “Matters pertaining to the country’s economy, security and foreign policy are not brought before Parliament; [instead] decisions are taken in drawing rooms,” he said, regretting that even agreements linked to the country’s future were signed while keeping Parliament in the dark. “This is a betrayal of the constitutional concept of civilian supremacy,” he ...