New Delhi: A 28-year-old TikToker in Pakistan’s Punjab province was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Friday. Shamso Bibi, known online as Ayesha Gilamana, was murdered reportedly over a financial dispute. Bibi’s brother Niamatullah told an independent media outlet Voicepk that the family was seeking intervention from Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, after the police’s failure to arrest anyone.
The killing has brought the spotlight back on violence against women in the country. A video of the shooting has been widely shared on social media. In the footage described by local media, two men on a motorcycle wait in a market, approach Bibi’s vehicle and fire shots inside before fleeing.
Bibi’s TikTok account, which had more than 13 lakh followers, was deactivated after her death. Her killing follows a series of cases involving TikTok creators and young women being targeted in the Rawalpindi-Islamabad area.
In July this year, Ali Raza was shot and killed in Lalkurti, Rawalpindi, in what local reports described as a dispute linked to videos posted by him. Police arrested suspects in the case.
In January last year, a 16-year-old girl in Rawalpindi was killed by her father in what police described as an ‘honor killing’ after she refused to delete her TikTok account. Then in June, 17-year-old TikTok creator Sana Yousaf was shot and killed inside her home in Islamabad.
The Yousaf case resulted in a landmark conviction. Umar Hayat was sentenced by a district and sessions court to 21 years of imprisonment under multiple charges. The court also ordered him to pay compensation to Yousaf’s family and imposed a fine. An appeal is pending before the Islamabad High Court, locla media reported.
Bibi’s killing reignited the social media debate around women safety. Independent Pakistani journalist Ammara Ahmad pointed out the insensitivity and misogyny surrounding the coverage.
One social media page seemingly mocked the low attendance at her funeral: ‘1.3 million followers yet few attended her funeral, highlighting social media reality,’ it captioned the post.
Ahmad wrote: “Pakistani women receive zero grace in death. Shamsu Bibi was a young influencer who was murdered in Taxila, Pakistan. And this is the headline on social media page. Not sure if the images are from her actual funeral but shame on whoever came up with this.”
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)
Dear ThePrint,
This is what targeting, assault and violence look like. It should serve as a reality check for you.
The series of articles you put out recently, as part of a concerted disinformation campaign against the incumbent BJP government, regarding ‘doxxing’ and ‘intimidation’ and ‘abuse’ of women who attended the Jantar Mantar protests were an abomination.
Nobody targeted anybody just for attending the protests. But anyone and everyone, irrespective of gender, caste and religion, who abused and engaged in profanity were paid back in the same coin. After all, a ‘gaali’ is not a criminal act and cannot be litigated in the courts. The only comeback to a ‘gaali’ is a ‘gaali’.
Those who hurled the choicest expletives at PM Modi and his late mother were paid back in the same coin. Unfortunately, they were not strong enough to take it. They thought only they can abuse.