Latest news with #Yousaf
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Business Recorder
A society in moral freefall
EDITORIAL: Another day in Pakistan: another young woman silenced by the brutal hands of male violence. The tragedy that befell 17-year-old TikTok star Sana Yousaf in Islamabad on June 2 is a harrowing reminder of how women's lives remain expendable in a society that refuses to confront its deep-rooted misogyny or dismantle the structures that allow such violence to thrive. According to details provided by Islamabad police, a 22-year-old man from Faisalabad, Umar Hayat, was arrested within hours of the murder coming to light through the help of CCTV footage from the vicinity of the victim's home and geo-fencing technology that helped trace his location. The Islamabad police chief tied the killing to the suspect persistently attempting to befriend Yousaf over several months, advances she repeatedly rejected. The alleged culprit's violent reaction to rejection exposes a warped mindset: one that fails to grasp the concepts of consent and female agency, and views women's autonomy as an affront. It reflects a society where too many men are raised to see dominance as their birthright and 'no' as a challenge to be crushed. This begs the question: how many more lives must be lost before Pakistani society finally breaks this cycle of entitlement that turns male fragility into female fatalities? As reprehensible as Yousaf's murder was, its aftermath revealed an even deeper societal sickness. Social media became a cesspool of victim-blaming, with young men justifying, and even celebrating the killing, twisting the victim's social media presence into some perverse justification for her violent end. It was a grotesque display of how violence against women has been normalised, where any female defying patriarchal boundaries is seen as 'asking for it'. That such depraved rhetoric flows so freely exposes how profoundly broken our moral compass is, with yet another generation of boys being radicalised into viewing women's lives as disposable. While the police did well to apprehend the alleged culprit in quick time, this moment demands more than just efficient policing. It requires the authorities to apply the country's cybercrime statutes — which they were so eager to foist upon the public — against their most legitimate targets: the digital lynch mobs treating a 17-year-old child's murder as cause for celebration. If cybercrime regulations can be deployed so fervently to silence political dissent, surely they can be used to prosecute those cheering and inciting violence against women. The fact is that true societal change — the dismantling of toxic patriarchal norms — will take years of education and awareness. But we cannot wait for that distant evolution while women's lives hang in the balance. The law must act now to punish not just physical violence, but also the online hate that fuels it. Let these tools, so often misused, finally serve what their true purpose should have always been, i.e., protecting the vulnerable. Recent days have revealed a damning portrait of our decay: child marriage bans spark protests, while dead women are posthumously tried for their own murders. Real change will require a dual reckoning — swift justice for both perpetrators of violence against women and their online enablers, along with an educational overhaul to reshape how young boys perceive women's autonomy so that this rot is rooted out before it takes hold in another generation. The alternative is tacitly endorsing the next murder of a girl who simply tried living on her own terms. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
TikTok Star Sana Yousaf Dies at 17 After Being Fatally Shot: Police
Sana Yousaf died after being fatally shot The social media influencer, who celebrated her birthday last week, died at age 17 Pakistani police confirmed they arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of her murder within 20 hoursSana Yousaf has died at age 17 after she was fatally shot, Pakistani police confirmed on Tuesday, June 3. The TikTok star, who had over one million followers across her social media platforms, was killed at her home in the capital Islamabad on Monday night, reported CBS News. Police have arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of her murder, per the outlet. Law enforcement says he spent hours loitering outside her home. The accused involved in Yousaf's murder was arrested within 20 hours, according to IG Islamabad Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi's press conference with senior officers on Tuesday. "It was a case of repeated rejections. The boy was trying to reach out to her time and again," Rizvi said during a news conference, per CBS News. He added, "It was a gruesome and cold-blooded murder." Yousaf was a popular content creator on TikTok with more than 800,000 followers on the app. She was known for her lip-sync clips, skincare advice and beauty product promo videos. The last post that Yousaf posted on Instagram was a video showing her cutting a cake in celebration of her birthday, just hours before her death. Fans filled her comment section with heartfelt tributes. "Can't believe this 💔 May her soul rest in peace," wrote one user. "This doesn't feel real. You were glowing, just being 17. I'm so sorry this world didn't protect you. Rest in peace, sweetheart 💔," commented another. Read the original article on People
Roya News
6 days ago
- General
- Roya News
Teen TikTok star shot dead: What we know so far
Seventeen-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf was shot and killed at her home in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Monday in what police and rights activists are calling a targeted act of gender-based violence. Yousaf, who had amassed over 1.1 million followers on TikTok and was known for her lip-sync videos, was reportedly shot twice in the chest and later died at the hospital. She was originally from Chitral in northern Pakistan and had recently celebrated her birthday, as seen in her last TikTok post. Police arrested a 22-year-old man from Faisalabad within 20 hours of the murder. According to Islamabad's police chief, the suspect had tried to contact Yousaf multiple times and traveled to Islamabad to see her. When she refused to meet him, he allegedly forced his way into her home and shot her during an argument. The suspect also took her phone, apparently in an attempt to destroy evidence. The murder has sparked widespread outrage, with women's rights groups, including the Aurat March and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), condemning the killing and demanding justice. 'This wasn't a random act – it was a premeditated attack by a man who couldn't take no for an answer,' said a statement from Aurat March. Sana's murder is the latest in a growing number of violent crimes targeting women in Pakistan, particularly those with a public presence online. Activists warn of a disturbing trend in which women are punished for visibility, independence, and rejecting unwanted advances. In 2024 alone, at least 346 women in Pakistan were killed in the name of 'honour,' according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan — a number that excludes many cases like Yousaf's, where the attacker was not a family member.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TikTok Star Sana Yousaf Dies at 17 After Being Fatally Shot: Police
Sana Yousaf died after being fatally shot The social media influencer, who celebrated her birthday last week, died at age 17 Pakistani police confirmed they arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of her murder within 20 hoursSana Yousaf has died at age 17 after she was fatally shot, Pakistani police confirmed on Tuesday, June 3. The TikTok star, who had over one million followers across her social media platforms, was killed at her home in the capital Islamabad on Monday night, reported CBS News. Police have arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of her murder, per the outlet. Law enforcement says he spent hours loitering outside her home. The accused involved in Yousaf's murder was arrested within 20 hours, according to IG Islamabad Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi's press conference with senior officers on Tuesday. "It was a case of repeated rejections. The boy was trying to reach out to her time and again," Rizvi said during a news conference, per CBS News. He added, "It was a gruesome and cold-blooded murder." Yousaf was a popular content creator on TikTok with more than 800,000 followers on the app. She was known for her lip-sync clips, skincare advice and beauty product promo videos. The last post that Yousaf posted on Instagram was a video showing her cutting a cake in celebration of her birthday, just hours before her death. Fans filled her comment section with heartfelt tributes. "Can't believe this 💔 May her soul rest in peace," wrote one user. "This doesn't feel real. You were glowing, just being 17. I'm so sorry this world didn't protect you. Rest in peace, sweetheart 💔," commented another. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What Happened to Sana Yousaf? TikTok Star Passes Away
Pakistani TikTok star and influencer Sana Yousaf has reportedly died. Yousaf was a prominent social media personality in Pakistan and had garnered over a million followers on TikTok and several hundred thousand followers on Instagram. 17-year-old TikTok star Sana Yousaf was reportedly shot dead at her home in Islamabad, Pakistan, around 5 p.m. local time on June 2, 2025. Her mother and aunt were near her when the incident took place. According to the authorities, Yousaf was killed because she declined a man's advances (via USA Today). Islamabad Police apprehended 22-year-old Umar Hayat, the reported main suspect in the killing, a day after the incident. Hayat lived around 200 miles away from Islamabad in the city of Faisalabad. Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistan's Interior Minister, took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that the authorities had recovered the murder weapon as well as Yousaf's iPhone and that the main suspect had confessed to the murder. In a June 3 press conference, Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, the Inspector General of Islamabad, offered details about the case. He called the accused 'a monster, cold-blooded murderer' before adding that he was 'now in the law's grip.' Rizvi noted that the accused wanted to 'become friends' with Yousaf, but the latter rejected him multiple times. 'First, it was a cellular rejection. Now, it was a physical mode of rejection,' Rizvi elaborated. Per the authorities, the suspect planned Yousaf's murder. He broke into her home and shot her before fleeing the scene. Rizvi stated that the accused took Yousaf's phone to erase any possible indications of his involvement. 'It was a blind murder; there were no leads, and things were not clear,' he said. 'Attempts were made to give the incident another angle, even though the aim of taking the mobile was to wipe out the clues.' The authorities also mentioned that the accused hail from an impoverished background. He had completed his matriculation, which is the equivalent to high school in the US, with 'no source of income.' The post What Happened to Sana Yousaf? TikTok Star Passes Away appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
