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Pakistani capital Pakistani Police I Islamabad arrested a man accused of having murdered a 17 -year -old social media influencer Sana Yousaf.
Yousaf, who had hundreds of thousands of followers on Tiktok and Instagram, was killed from his home on Monday, the last example of alleged femicide in Pakistan.
What happened to Sana Yousaf?
Local media reported that Yousaf had been shot dead at his home in Islamabad around 5 p.m. (12:00 p.m. GMT), according to a police report by Yousaf’s mother, Farzana Yousaf, seen by the Pakistani media, Dawn.
The report added that Yousaf had been shot dead twice and was taken to hospital but died of his injuries.
Who was Sana Yousaf?
Yousaf was an influencer in social media, originally from Chitral, a city about 400 km (250 miles) north of Islamabad.
Since Wednesday, she Teltok account had 1.1 million followers. She has often published Lip videos by synchronizing with songs. The latest video published on his account is a montage of his birthday celebration with his friends.
On Tuesday, according to Dawn, Yousaf was buried in his ancestral cemetery in the village of Chitral.
What do we know about the suspect of the murder?
On Tuesday, Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, Inspector General of the Police of Islamabad (IGP), told a press conference that the police had arrested a suspect in Faisalabad, a city about 320 km (200 miles) south of Islamabad, within 8 p.m. after the murder.
“The accused is a 22 -year -old unemployed man who has repeatedly tried to contact the victim. During his refusal to answer, he committed the murder,” said Rizvi.
He added that the suspect had taken Yousaf’s phone with him to “destroy evidence”, but that the police had grasped his phone as well as the weapon of the suspect’s murder.
Dawn reported, citing anonymous sources close to the investigation, that the suspect and the Yousaf have known each other for a year. The suspect had gone to Islamabad between May 28 and 29 to wish you well on his birthday, but the two could not meet, for unpertified reasons.
The suspect and Yousaf then spoke by phone and decided to meet on June 2. When the suspect arrived at Yousaf’s house, she did not go out. However, he still managed to participate and an argument ensued, degenerating in the murder of Yousaf.
Yousaf’s parents were not at home when the murder took place, but his aunt was present.
What are the reactions to Yousaf’s murder?
The National Commission on the Statute of Women (NCSW), a statutory body created to examine government policies affecting women, demanded a detailed investigation into crime.
“We will not let this case be buried under social stigma, false stories of honor or procedural gaps. This insane murder highlights the vulnerability of women and girls, even in their own house. We demand justice for Sana and her family, and we expect the State to ensure the responsibility of the authors, “said the president of the NCSW Ume Laila Azhar.
The Minister of the Interior of Pakistan, Mohin Naqvi, confirmed on Tuesday arrest of the suspect in a post. “The police recovered the pistol and the phone i [iPhone] The deceased daughter and the accused also confessed the murder, “he wrote. Al Jazeera has not been able to confirm independently if the suspect admitted to having killed Yousaf.
Bravo the Islamabad police. Case of the murder of Sana Yousaf Traced, accused arrested and weapon recovered in 20 hours
The incident occurred yesterday in Islamabad when a young girl was murdered by a masked accused. The accused was arrested a few hours ago. The police have … pic.twitter.com/jmqx9xalhm
– Mohs naqvi (@ mohinnaqvic42) June 3, 2025
At the Marck, the feminist group which organizes the largest annual march of women in Pakistan in several cities – generally coinciding with International Women’s Day on March 8 – published a statement on Tuesday. “We, the chapters of March from Aurat across the country, demand justice for Sana a 17 -year -old daughter and Tiktker who tragically lost her life because of patriarchal violence,” wrote the story in legend.
“Patriarchy feels most threatened when women and gender minorities claim voice and public visibility by contesting standards of the stand. In response, he turns to violence the ultimate tool to silence, control and erase.
“This is exactly what happened to Sana who was killed inside his own house by a violent man who could not take no for an answer. It was not a random blow, it was a planned attack where the intimacy and the house of a minor girl were invaded by a man who thought he would stick.”
This is exactly what happened to Sana who was killed inside her own house by a violent man who could not take no for an answer. It was not a random blow, it was a planned attack where the intimacy and the house of a minor girl were invaded by a man who thought he would get away with it. pic.twitter.com/auorjl3koe
– Aurat March – Mars (@AratMarchkhi) June 3, 2025
Actor Mahira Khan also published a story on Instagram, sharing the news of Yousaf’s murder. “Disgusted in the heart,” Khan wrote in legend.
To what extent is an incident in Pakistan?
In recent years, several incidents have occurred involving young women subject to violent crimes in the hands of the men they know. Many of these women also had a presence on social networks on platforms such as Tiktok.
“The murder of Sana Yousaf is part of a horrible and continuous model of violence against women in Pakistan, in particular those who dare to exist with autonomy,” said Al Jazeera Nighat Dad, executive director of a non -governmental research organization, Digital Rights Foundation. “These are not isolated incidents. What connects them is a culture where women are punished for visibility, independence and say no.
“At the heart of this scheme is a fragile masculinity and a deeply rooted misogyny. When young women affirm borders or do not say to romantic or sexual advances, she dies at the male ego, in particular in a society that teaches men the law on the body and the choices of women.
On January 28, a man named Anwar Ul-Haq was accused of murder after admitting to having shot his 14-year-old daughter Hira Anwar in Quetta, a city in southwest Pakistan. The man, who had recently moved his family to the United States in Pakistan, told the police that he had found Tiktok videos made by his “reprehensible” daughter. His daughter had published videos on the social platform before moving to Pakistan with her family.
In October 2024, police in southern Pakistan Karachi said they had arrested a man for killing four family members. The four women of 60, 21, 20, 20 and 12 years old were found with split gorges in separate rooms from their apartment, according to the police.
In 2022, the American woman Pakistani Sania Khan was 29 years old when she was shot by her former husband, Raheel Ahmad, in Chicago after publishing her divorce on her Tiktok account. When the police arrived, Ahmad, 36 at the time, fell with the weapon he used to kill Khan.
Perhaps the depths of the deepest murder of a Pakistani woman took place in 2016, when the social media star Qandeel Baloch was killed by his brother at the age of 26.
“Women visible online, in particular those who defy social norms or that exist outside the mold of the respectability policy, are faced with disproportionate abuses and threats,” said Papa. “The backlash is not only digital, it is physical. When platforms do not act against hatred and harassment, they allow a culture where violence becomes the consequence of women simply seen and heard.”
In all, 346 women in Pakistan were killed in 2024 in the name of “honor”, against 324 in 2023, according to the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP).
But this statistic probably does not include cases like that of Yousaf, where the accused is not the family of the victim and committed a murder after his advances were rejected.
In July 2021, 27 years old Noor du Mukakdam was killed in Islamabad by Zahir Jaffer, whose family was known to Mukadam. In 2022, a judge sentenced Jaffer to death for rape, murder and beheading of Mukadam. Last week, the Supreme Court of Pakistan confirmed Jaffer’s death penalty.
“We need a systemic change. The state must treat online misogyny and gender -based violence as connected threats and not separate problems,” said Dad. “When a woman says no, and a man responds with violence, it’s not sorrow, it’s an abuse.”
