Islamabad police arrested a suspect who shot dead 17-year-old bright student and social media influencer Sana Yousaf inside her home in the capital.
Sana Yousaf, who originally hails from Chitral in Pakistan’s north, was a medical student and innovator who carved out an influential image in social media, especially TikTok, where she had hundreds of thousands of followers.
Her killing shocked the people, especially social media users, with several blaming deeply entrenched societal troubles for her death.
Many people and civil society figures voiced their exasperation over some of the people trying to justify the killing of the innocent girl.
Police identified the suspect in custody as Ali Nasir Rizvi from central Punjab town of Faisalabad. According to police the suspected proposed her but was rejected.
The first information report (FIR) describes the incident on the complaint of Sana’s mother, Farzana Yousaf.
In the FIR, the mother reported that a man with a pistol in his hand entered their house suddenly at around 5pm Monday and “shot straight at my daughter with the intention to kill”.
She added that two shots struck Sana in her chest, injuring her severely. The girl was taken to a hospital but she had succumbed to her wounds, the FIR adds.
The mother says she and her sister-in-law, Lateefa Shah, were eyewitnesses to the incident and could identify the suspect if they saw him in person.
Farzana detailed that her 15-year-old son was not present at the house as he had gone to their native village in Upper Chitral, while her sister-in-law was visiting them for a few days.
This is not the first time that social media influencers have been targeted in the country.
In January, a man who recently brought his family back to Quetta from the United States confessed to shooting his 15-year-old daughter dead, motivated by his disapproval of her TikTok content.
The same month, two TikToker men died in separate incidents in Lahore after their pistols went off accidentally in Lahore.
Pakistan has more than 54 million TikTok users.
Authorities frequently blocked the video-sharing app in the past over content deemed objectionable.
The platform was banned four times in 2021 alone. It is currently accessible, with stringent moderation in place and it must comply with the Government requests to remove certain content.
