Faysal Quraishi responds to legal notice over 'Zulm'

In a recent development, the Karachi Bar Association has issued an official condemnation directed towards renowned Pakistani actor Faysal Quraishi and a private media channel, demanding an apology for allegedly tarnishing the reputation of the legal fraternity in their drama series, Zulm.

The condemnation, signed by General Secretary Ikhtiar Ali Channa and Chairman Human Rights Committee Zahid Hussain Soomro, expressed deep discontent with the portrayal of the legal profession in the drama Zulm, particularly highlighting Faysal’s alleged use of inappropriate language against lawyers.

According to the statement issued by the Bar Association, the depiction of the legal fraternity in the drama has been deemed contemptuous, leading to a significant dent in its reputation. The Association has unequivocally demanded an apology from all parties involved, including Faysal and the owner of the private media house.

Furthermore, the Association has indicated that it reserves the right to pursue legal action against the aforementioned parties, emphasising the seriousness of the matter.

In response to the condemnation, Faysal took to Instagram to address the controversy. In a heartfelt video message, he expressed gratitude towards Kaiser Khan Nizamani, a lawyer of the Karachi High Court and Karachi Bar Court, who reached out to him to discuss the issue.

“A notification was issued after which all hell broke loose. My fans and friends were worried all morning. At the place I was at, there weren’t any signals there. So anyway, I was getting a lot of calls but I’m very grateful to Kaiser Khan Nizamani Sahib, who is a lawyer of Karachi High Court and Karachi Bar Court,” he shared.

Faysal further expressed, “I’m very thankful to him that he called me up and he asked me what the problem was. So I told him, look Sir you understand that as an actor there is no fault of ours in this, we say whatever is written.”

The actor acknowledged the concerns raised by the legal fraternity and expressed regret if anyone had been hurt by the portrayal in the drama. Reminding his followers about how he merely plays the characters penned by the showrunners, Faysal said, “Yes, this play had a lot of things that we ourselves, personally, I mean we told them that we won’t say this, this shouldn’t be said, so we didn’t say a lot of things.”

“Sometimes by accident, some things slip through, those can be redacted later on as well. Anyway, this went on air because of which our lawyer bhai was upset, I’m very sorry if anyone has been hurt,” he added.

The Khaie actor stressed that no matter what the usual protocol of showbiz, he was immensely regretful that people had been hurt. “I personally don’t like if I hurt someone, because I’m also a part of this community/society, and if someone said something like this about me then it hurts so we will try that next time something like this doesn’t happen,” he maintained.

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