<p class="title">Acclaimed Pakistani film-maker Jamshed Mahmood Raza has added new momentum to the country's fledgeling #MeToo movement after airing allegations that he was raped by an unnamed media tycoon.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The director, who is popularly known as Jami, rocked Pakistani social media over the weekend after he published several tweets describing the alleged assault that happened 13 years ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Why im so strongly supporting #metoo? cuz i know exactly how it happens now, inside a room then outside courts inside courts and how a survivor hides confides cuz i was brutally raped by a very powerful person in our media world," he wrote Sunday evening.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The tweets were in response to a backlash online after a professor in the eastern city of Lahore committed suicide after allegedly being falsely accused of sexual harassment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Amid the backlash, Jami pleaded with social media users to trust victims of sexual assault and avoid ignoring their accusations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I told my few close friends but no one took it seriously," added Jami, whose 2015 film "Moor" ("Mother") was a massive hit.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The film-maker has so far refused to name the tycoon allegedly behind the assault, while the allegations have unleashed a torrent of differing reactions online.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"@jamiazaad I see you. I hear you. I stand with you. Always," tweeted popular actress Meesha Shafi -- who helped kickstart Pakistan's #MeToo movement in 2018 after accusing a popular singer in the country of harassment -- on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jami is a true ally. This is unprecedented in Pakistan. This kind of revelation from a man," wrote Twitter user Khizra.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Others were more sceptical.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Still, u cant b serious using it to square Lhr professor's suicide & misuse of #MeToo," said another Twitter user Razi. "Pakistan is suffering by both #metoo & misuse of #MeToo."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"No #MeToo here. Should have said No, but succumbed," wrote Ali Raj in response to a blog about the story.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The #MeToo and #Timesup campaigns have gone global since allegations of sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017, sparking an avalanche of accusations against other powerful men.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, the movement has been slow to catch on in Pakistan, where women have fought for their rights for years in a patriarchal society where so-called "honour" killings and attacks on women remain commonplace.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In 2017, future Prime Minister Imran Khan was also hit with allegations of sexual misconduct by a female lawmaker who accused the famed cricketer of sending obscene text messages.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He later denied the allegations.</p>
<p class="title">Acclaimed Pakistani film-maker Jamshed Mahmood Raza has added new momentum to the country's fledgeling #MeToo movement after airing allegations that he was raped by an unnamed media tycoon.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The director, who is popularly known as Jami, rocked Pakistani social media over the weekend after he published several tweets describing the alleged assault that happened 13 years ago.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Why im so strongly supporting #metoo? cuz i know exactly how it happens now, inside a room then outside courts inside courts and how a survivor hides confides cuz i was brutally raped by a very powerful person in our media world," he wrote Sunday evening.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The tweets were in response to a backlash online after a professor in the eastern city of Lahore committed suicide after allegedly being falsely accused of sexual harassment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Amid the backlash, Jami pleaded with social media users to trust victims of sexual assault and avoid ignoring their accusations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I told my few close friends but no one took it seriously," added Jami, whose 2015 film "Moor" ("Mother") was a massive hit.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The film-maker has so far refused to name the tycoon allegedly behind the assault, while the allegations have unleashed a torrent of differing reactions online.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"@jamiazaad I see you. I hear you. I stand with you. Always," tweeted popular actress Meesha Shafi -- who helped kickstart Pakistan's #MeToo movement in 2018 after accusing a popular singer in the country of harassment -- on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Jami is a true ally. This is unprecedented in Pakistan. This kind of revelation from a man," wrote Twitter user Khizra.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Others were more sceptical.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Still, u cant b serious using it to square Lhr professor's suicide & misuse of #MeToo," said another Twitter user Razi. "Pakistan is suffering by both #metoo & misuse of #MeToo."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"No #MeToo here. Should have said No, but succumbed," wrote Ali Raj in response to a blog about the story.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The #MeToo and #Timesup campaigns have gone global since allegations of sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017, sparking an avalanche of accusations against other powerful men.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, the movement has been slow to catch on in Pakistan, where women have fought for their rights for years in a patriarchal society where so-called "honour" killings and attacks on women remain commonplace.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In 2017, future Prime Minister Imran Khan was also hit with allegations of sexual misconduct by a female lawmaker who accused the famed cricketer of sending obscene text messages.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He later denied the allegations.</p>