Journalist Naeem Hanif issued a formal apology after actress Saba Qamar served him with a legal notice of Rs 100 million for defamatory comments made about her character.
According to the legal notice, Hanif had “made and disseminated defamatory, sexist and derogatory statements about [Qamar’s] personal and moral character’, while promoting the ‘regressive notion that a woman’s achievements are not earned through merit or professionalism but through association with men’.
Hanif addressed the controversy while appearing on a podcast hosted by Bushra Khan on RNN Network’s YouTube channel, where he acknowledged that his claims were false. “The allegations I made were false and I apologize to Saba Qamar,” he said.
Qamar responded to the apology by sharing it on her Instagram story, with the caption “Speechless”.
The apology follows comments made by Hanif earlier in November 2025 on his YouTube channel, where he claimed that Qamar had once lived in a house in Lahore’s Walton area that was allegedly given to her by an unnamed person. The claims quickly sparked an online backlash.
Qamar strongly denied the allegations, sharing a screenshot of the podcast on her Instagram account and calling the claims “baseless and untrue”. He said he had never lived in Walton and described the comments as a serious act of character assassination.
Following the controversy, several celebrities came out publicly in support of Qamar and condemned the nature of the allegations.
Actress Sehar Khan addressed the issue in her Instagram story, saying that being able to “say anything about anyone” online was unacceptable. “Such extreme and toxic attitudes must be challenged,” he added.
Qamar herself also shared a series of stories on Instagram highlighting what she described as Hanif’s pattern of behavior. These included posts drawing attention to his derogatory comments against actress Fiza Ali and celebrity couple Shoaib Malik and Sana Javed, as well as a clip of him talking about the death of actor Yousaf.
In a post, Qamar accused Hanif of having a history of “spreading fake news, making cheap comments and disrespecting people who have worked hard all their lives… just to get attention, opinions and fame.”
Media commentators Aamna Isani and Hassan Choudary of Something High also reacted strongly to the controversy, stressing that journalism comes with responsibility. They said no one should use their platform to spread inaccurate claims, adding that personal attacks under the guise of commentary are unacceptable.
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