In 2019, a video was circulated on social media in which Hareem Shah was reported to have accused Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, a minister of Pakistan Railways, of engaging in vulgar behavior. Hareem Shah confirmed the authenticity of the video and admitted that one of her friends had leaked it on social media. In the video, a woman who is not visible on camera was heard making accusations against a man during a video call. She said,
"Aap nanga hoke mujhe dikhaate the. Video pe galat-galat kism ki hartakein karte the. (You used to get naked and show me. You did inappropriate things on camera.)"
In an interview with a Pakistani TV channel, Hareem Shah mentioned that she began to receive death threats after the video went viral and expressed her intention to seek citizenship in different countries as a means to ensure her safety and avoid returning to Pakistan.
• Abduction of her Husband
On 26 August 2023, Hareem Shah's husband, Bilal Shah, was reportedly abducted in Karachi, Pakistan. On 3 September 2023, she posted a video on 'X' (formerly known as Twitter), where she disclosed that her husband, Bilal, had been kidnapped in Pakistan a week before. She explained that they had recently been in London, but Bilal had to return to Pakistan for work. One evening after dinner, when he left his home in Karachi's Qayyumabad Street No. 6, he was abducted by individuals who arrived in vehicles. In the video, she appealed to Pakistan's intelligence agency (ISI) for assistance in finding her husband. She said,
"It has been seven days. Bilal and I were in London. He had to go back to Pakistan for some work. This was evening time when he stepped out after lunch and some cars and people in civil illegally abducted him and took him somewhere. There is no information about Bilal after that, he has been illegally and wrongfully held by some people. I request the ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence agency) to find out about this incident."
In her video, Hareem Shah revealed that both she and Bilal's family had filed a petition in a Pakistani court; however, there has been no apparent progress in the case. She said that Bilal had no political affiliations and no legal issues against him. In the video, while talking about Pakistan's law and order, she said,
"This is an insult to Pakistan and the law and order situation in Pakistan."
According to the complaint filed by Bilal Shah's mother, her son's disappearance was triggered by a 25-second video clip that allegedly showed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of PML-N and former Prime Minister of Pakistan, walking with an unidentified woman. This video clip was shared on social media by Hareem Shah. Hareem Shah accused Maryam Nawaz, a member of the PML-N party and the daughter of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, of ordering the abduction of her husband, Bilal, in Karachi. On 21 August 2023, Hareem Shah posted a video on 'X' (previously known as Twitter) featuring Shehbaz Sharif walking with a woman, which captioned,
"Shehbaz Sharif’s two-hour-long meeting with his new ‘girlfriend’ at a private hotel in London? First sat in the hotel lobby and drank tea for half an hour and then went to the room. Any shame?"
On 5 September 2023, Bilal Shah was released and returned home after spending five days in detention by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). During his time in custody, he was questioned about the controversial social media posts made by Hareem Shah. In an interview, when he was asked about his detention experience, he said,
"I am back. I was treated with respect by the members of an investigation agency. They asked me questions about the Twitter account running in the name of Hareem, and I told them that I had no idea what this was all about. They checked my phone and everything and found that I had nothing to do with this account."
Bilal Shah also said that he would withdraw the FIR filed by his family against some unidentified men, who kidnapped him. According to security sources, Bilal told investigators that although he was not aware of the person responsible for managing Hareem's account on the microblogging site 'X,' he knew that the account was being operated with Hareem's consent and approval. He said that Hareem knows the person who handles the account. The sources mentioned their interest in speaking with Hareem about the account. Several prominent figures, including leaders from the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), filed complaints to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) regarding the alleged defamatory content on that account.
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