Pakistani singer, Maha Ali Kazmi, lambasted actor-turned-podcast host, Ahmed Ali Butt, for “holding a court of public opinion, in a matter that is sub-judice before the court of law” in regards to him interviewing singer, Ali Noor, against whom Kazmi had levelled sexual harassment allegations.
For his recent episode of the podcast, Excuse Me, Butt invited Noor, the Noori frontman. Noor, according to Kazmi, subjected her to “harassment and professional misconduct” during a Coke Studio audition. Kazmi also shared screenshots from 2013 that included Butt sending her with suggestive messages.
Alongside a collage of screenshots of the convo and a screengrab of the duo’s podcast, Kazmi stated, “Mr Ahmad Ali Butt is adjudicating on a matter, holding a court of public opinion, in a matter that is sub-judice before the court of law (Ombudsman for Sindh for Protection against Harassment of Women), which Mr Ali Noor is avoiding to defend for reasons best known to him.”
“Even otherwise, I have a couple of questions: 1. On what basis Mr Ali Noor has cleared his name? 2. Who has given him clean chit? 3. Who has given authority to Mr Ahmed Ali Butt to hand out character certificates? 4. Is it fair to pronounce Mr Ali Noor ‘not guilty’ in such a one-sided manner?” She continued.
Kazmi furthered, “No self-respecting girl wants to go through the ordeal which I went through, and calling out such predators is not easy at all in our patriarchal society. The self-appointed judge(s) of women and their character keen on exonerating their “bro’ doesn’t exactly have much credibility themselves. I guess it is some sick ‘bro code’ between misogynists to help each other out in hiding their dirty deeds, shame on them.”
Speaking on sharing conversation screenshots and respecting others’ privacy, Kazmi said, “I’d like to clarify that I am extremely guarded, as a matter of principle, about the privacy of people who interact with me. I would never leak conversations. I am outing this particular conversation, though, because it best demonstrates my point that it isn’t Mr Butt’s place to dish out character certificates when his own character leaves a lot to be desired.”
In conversation with a local media outlet, Kazmi further shared on the matter and said. “My decision to out this conversation after all these years was prompted by a podcast hosted by Mr Ahmad Ali Butt involving Mr Ali Noor. Mr Ahmad Ali Butt is adjudicating on a matter, holding a court of public opinion, in a matter that is sub-judice before the Court of law (Ombudsman for Sindh for Protection against Harassment of Women). In the podcast, Mr Butt seemed to concur with Mr Noor that the allegations against him were unfounded and that he had long cleared his name.”
“If I had an objective other than defence of my reputation I would have done it years ago. And from my previous incident involving Mr Noor, I found myself on the receiving end of a barrage of insults targeting my reputation, my character, credibility and honesty. I went through hell in the aftermath of opening up about my experience. So why would I risk going through that hell again? It is easy to make light of such unsolicited messages and our society has normalised it. There isn’t a woman out there who hasn’t received similar messages. And just because it is ubiquitous doesn’t make it okay.”
“It somehow doesn’t feel like that big an offence anymore until you put yourself in the shoes of a young woman entering the media industry with stars in her eyes, receiving these messages on an idle morning and her whole world comes crashing down shattering her confidence. Now she doesn’t know whom to trust anymore, and in the process all her relations with her male colleagues become awkward. I remember how these messages made me feel. Here was a seemingly well-respected media industry veteran enjoying substantial clout sliding into my messenger inbox at dawn telling me about how he derives his kinks. To him, it was perhaps just innocuous lewd talk but for me, it was a deeply unsettling experience. Despite those offensive messages I even had to feign nonchalance coming across as giving the impression that while this behavior is hugely inappropriate but I will overlook it and pretend that his account was hacked.”
She further said, “In all these years, I convinced myself that I should simply try to ignore such behaviour because it’s so common and maybe it is just an occupational hazard. But when this interview emerged it rattled me to the core of my being that a man who himself is up to his eyeballs in misogyny has the chutzpah to exonerate another accused of the same.”
Back in April, 2023, In a series of Instagram videos, Kazmi accused him of pressuring her to take drugs during her audition for Coke Studio, after he contacted her office in Lahore. She has also claimed that Ali Noor sabotaged her audition and made inappropriate advances towards her.
However, her audition was disrupted by Ali Noor, who repeatedly interrupted her and asked an inappropriate question, “Will you sing with your own key or will we have to give you the key?” This behaviour made her uncomfortable and frustrated. She expressed her disappointment with Noor, stating that he should be ashamed of sabotaging her audition.
She also shared that Noor asked her to come to Lahore and let him mould her into the shape he desires. Despite not being famous, Kazmi stated that she is content that she did not compromise her self-respect for work. Kazmi went on to call Ali Noor a sexual predator who preys on young women who cross his path.
