Imagine a country where men have the right to lynch women on the basis of a rejection. Unfortunately, such a country exists, and it is our very own: Pakistan. Presently, an innocent girl was murdered by a 22-year-old boy named Umar Hayat after relentlessly being pursued and rejecting his advances.
The girl, Sana Yousuf, was a tiktoker and had accumulated a large following on multiple social media platforms. Umar Hayat was one of her followers and, aggravated by the rejections and encouraged by a culture of violent misogyny, came to her home and shot her in cold blood.
The murderer also stole her mobile phone in order to delete all data. A case was soon filed, and he was arrested within 22 hours. But what makes this case particularly troubling is that it was not an isolated incident, rather part of a recurring pattern. In 2024, almost 350 women were killed in the name of honour. A case of another alleged honour killing of a young tiktoker — known as Thal ki Shehzadi — is currently ongoing.
Is this justice and humanity? Are social media platforms only made for boys, and not for girls? Do they not have the right to use them as they please? These incidents make it strictly clear that Pakistan is not a safe country for women. Here, women don’t possess the right to exercise their own choice. They can’t even outright reject a man for fear of being killed. To top it all off, Pakistan has one of the highest reported rates of honour killing globally.
It is the duty of every government body and independent organisations to take whatever action they can in their capacity to protect the women of our society. Legal action without delays should also place such violent offenders behind bars. Otherwise, we will remain regressive and barbaric for centuries to come.
Ali Hassan
Khuzdar
