After 17 year old social media star Sana Yousaf was shot dead at her home in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, a conversation has erupted about violence against women and girls in the Islamic Republic.
The murdered teen was famous for posing for her almost 800,000 followers on TikTok, and 615,000 on Instagram.
Local police say that Sana was shot dead after she rejected the advances of a man, believed to be Umar Hayat, who broke into her residence in Islamabad where he discharged two shots leaving Sana dead.
Investigators say that the murder took place after the suspect made “offers of friendship” to the teen star which she did not accept. It is also believed that he tried to meet her before allegedly taking her life.
She was laid to rest in her home region of Chitral in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
The murder has triggered a flurry of online posts about violence against women with the caption “Not all men, but always a man.” accompanied by women who have been the victims of femicide in Pakistan, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was shot dead in 2007.
The campaign also features images of women who were disfigured due to acid attacks.
Some social media users have flagged comments allegedly celebrating the murder as further examples of misogyny in the country, where references have been made to the practice of ‘honour killing’ in respect of the murder.
Barrister and activist, Khadija Siddiqui, who is based in Lahore, reacted to some of the online comments saying, “Let it be LOUD & CLEAR! There is no honour in killing!”
“Men commit crimes of violence yet society has the audacity to question the girl’s character, her lifestyle, all become food for elaborate debate, meanwhile the murderer escapes conveniently. Shame!” she wrote.
Islamabad based journalist Asad Baid pointed to other women who have been killed: “Qandeel Baloch was too bold, so she asked for it. Noor Mukaddam made a bad choice; she should have stayed home. Every time, the same poison: that women are to blame for their own murders, and that men are simply reacting. This narrative doesn’t just miss the point; it protects the killer and indicts the dead. I am furious, and we all should be, because if we keep swallowing this story, more girls will die, and we’ll keep calling it a consequence instead of what it is: cold-blooded, gendered, unforgivable murder.” he wrote in the wake of the killing.
A female blogger said that in Pakistan women who are the victims of violent assaults such as rape, murder or beatings are often blamed, claiming that there is a culture of asking “What was she wearing?” and “How was she behaving?”
“I’ve grown up in a society that finds it all too easy to blame women for everything,” she said,
“Every rejection becomes a bruised ego. Every no is treated like a personal insult -an invitation to punish, harass, shame, or worse, to kill.”
“Sana Yousaf was only 17. She said no to a man. And for that, she was shot dead.”
“Another daughter silenced.” wrote another.
The UN says that In Pakistan, 28% of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence, and 6% have experienced sexual violence.
34% of women who have been married have experienced spousal physical, sexual, or emotional violence, it says.
According to Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS), 18% girls (aged 20-24) were married before the age of 18, and 3.6 % were married before the age of 15.