Who was Sana Yousaf? Pakistani influencer shot dead for 'rejecting' man

A teenage social media influencer, who had more than a million followers across TikTok and Instagram, was shot dead at her residence in Islamabad, officials said on Tuesday, in a third such incident in Pakistan in the last five months.

Sana Yousaf, 17, was mercilessly shot dead on Monday at her house in Islamabad’s Sector G-13/1, falling under the jurisdiction of the Sumbal police station, police said.

She has over 740,000 followers on TikTok and close to 500,000 on Instagram.

Yousaf gained popularity through her TikTok videos, where she was garnered praise for highlighting the Chitrali culture. She also advocated for women's rights, and education. She was the daughter of a social activist and often used her online presence to speak on issues that impacted the community, especially young women.

Islamabad police arrested an accused, identified as Umar Hayat, also known by his nickname “Kaka”, in Faisalabad, Geo TV reported on Tuesday.

Hayat, also a TikToker, has confessed to the murder, the channel said.

The accused, who had come to meet Sana at her residence, is said to have fired two shots, resulting in her death.

Sana lived with her father, a government officer, her mother, a housewife, and her 15-year-old brother, who is currently visiting their hometown of Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Only Sana's aunt was with her in the house at the time of the crime.

The girl had a conversation with the suspect before he brutally shot her twice, her aunt told the police.

"It was a case of repeated rejections. The boy was trying to reach out to her time and again," Islamabad police chief Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said during a news conference.

"It was a gruesome and cold-blooded murder," Rizvi added.

Violence against women is pervasive there as per the country's Human Rights Commission, and there have been past cases of women being attacked after rejecting marriage proposals.

In 2021, 27-year-old Noor Mukadam was beheaded by her Pakistani-American boyfriend, Zahir Jaffer, after she rejected his marriage proposal.

In 2016, Khadija Siddiqui survived being stabbed 23 times by a jilted ex-boyfriend.

(With agency inputs)