That’s no fun

It may have been just idiotic — dangerously idiotic. And there may well have been something serious about it too. Well, the context here is the latest social media clip of TikToker Hareen Shah along with bundles of currency notes, most probably pound sterling. The video clips shows Shah bragging about how she smarted her way through the immigration counters at some airport in Pakistan to reach London along with the huge amount of money she is fiddling with. A naïve admission of money laundering! The famous TikToker also warns her viewers to be careful while doing something similar, boasting that she — being no ordinary person — was able to bring the heavy cash despite around dollar two thousand being the permitted limit.

While Shah appeared to be mocking the system in Pakistan which “can be easily dodged or bought off to launder stacks of cash”, the authorities in the country swung into action against her, with an FIA spokesperson in Sindh announcing a money laundering probe. “The FIA has decided to write a letter to the UK’s National Crime Agency to take action against Hareem Shah whose real name is Fiza Husain,” said the spokesperson. On finding herself in trouble, the TikToker, who is known to hanker after cheap publicity, came up with an explanatory statement, saying that she made the video just for fun at the office of a money-changer to whom all the cash belonged. The money-changer too seconded her explanation.

TikTokers tend to be on the lookout for novel ways to muster ‘likes’ and become social media stars overnight. There are those who do not even hesitate risking their lives, despite there being examples of a few having kicked the bucket in the process of coming up with content worth getting viral. Shah too has ventured into a risky affair — whether for fun or some serious business. She has dared meddle in serious state affairs and should not be left off the hook without a probe. Red lines need to be defined clearly.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17, 2022.

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