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Noori lead vocalist Ali Noor says he has sent a defamation notice to fellow singer Maha Ali Kazmi over harassment allegations she posted about him on Instagram. Kazmi accused him of professional misconduct and sabotaging her Coke Studio audition.

Noor’s legal notice, shared on Instagram, demands an apology and for Kazmi to withdraw the allegations within three days of receiving the notice. “In case of failure, our client has instructed us to initiate appropriate civil proceedings, including a suit for defamation and damages to the tune of Rs65,000,000 as well as criminal proceedings no less than FIR at FIA, Cyber-crime Wing at your sole risk and cost.”

In the notice, Noor denied the “serious, false and baseless allegations” made via her Instagram stories. Kazmi has not responded to the notice publicly.

The accusations

Kazmi claimed, in a series of videos posted on her Instagram story on Tuesday, that she was called for a Coke Studio audition by an employee, saying that Noor desired to meet her for an audition but when she sang in front of him, he interrupted her with belittling comments. “He asked me a very unprofessional question: ‘Will you sing in your own key or will we have to give you the key?’ Then two lines later in the audition, he told me that I was not what he envisioned and I should come to Lahore and I should let him mould me in whatever dhancha,” she said.

In an interview with The Express Tribune, Kazmi said that she received an invitation to meet Noor at a hotel to discuss the possibility of collaborating on an album. “I obviously took my husband since it was a hotel room where the meeting was taking place. At the hotel, nothing of substance was discussed, and no future endeavours or album was mentioned.”

In her stories, she talked about the same incident. “He psychoanalysed me and advised me to take lots of drugs. Well, I’m not that woman. I will not sleep with you, motherf******, I will make myself who I am with my own abilities and talent,” she had said.

Kazmi said she is grateful she didn’t have to make any compromises to achieve what she has because of “filthy men” in the entertainment industry. “It is very easy to spread your legs to give them favours but in exchange, they will only give you scabs. They have nothing to give. They aren’t self-reliant enough to give anything.

“To hell with your world of filth, you go f*** yourself, Ali Noor. Because you sabotage my Coke Studio audition and I hope you die.”

She then posted a written statement, calling him a “sexual predator” who is “crazy to core yet sane enough to take advantage of young women who come your way.”

In the interview, she shared that Noor described her voice as “ordinary and nasal”, words that scarred her and shattered her self-confidence as an artist for years to come. “In a nutshell, I believed him. I believed that I was worthless.”

She also described asking Noor about what he had said to the then Coke Studio producers and Strings front-men Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia. “When I asked him what he told them about my audition, he said, ‘The girl is no good, her voice is too nasal.’ My heart sank but I smiled. That is how he sabotaged me.”

The ‘Sitaro Ki Khoj’ singer said in her stories, “The funniest part that I’d like to highlight today is that it’s not just harassment, these subtle vibes that we get as women because we are very well equipped living in a patriarchal society to gage when somebody is crossing their limits and boundary.

“I call it criminal psychological trauma that we have to go through because these producers are in the position to give us work that we deserve, work we are good enough for, work that we can do very well but instead, they would call us to their studio to belittle us, make us feel insecure. They will tell us we don’t have what it takes to get that work.”

She ended her statement by urging Noor and all other men in the entertainment industry to change so that women working don’t feel uncomfortable in professional capacities and it is ensured that they are given the opportunities they deserve.

“Please kindly fix your act, because we’re not living in a world where everything can be swept in proverbial carpets and you can dust it up and go on living your own life. We are going to come after you and we are going to claim our place in the industry with more women producers and women musicians and we will show you that you are not the lords of our destiny.”

This isn’t the first time the musician has been accused of harassment. Last year, journalist Ayesha binte Rashid, associated with Soch Fact Check and previously the Herald, accused the singer of being a sexual harasser and predator. In response, Noor denied the allegations and called it a “mockery of Me Too”.