Actor Humaira Asghar Ali mistaken for TikToker Dolly in recent forest fire controversy

Last week, a TikToker irked many after a video went viral on social media. A Pakistani social media star, Dolly, with millions of followers, faced criticism after posing for a TikTok video by a forest fire, as a devastating heatwave causes widespread misery in the country.

The user "Dollyofficiall" posted a clip of herself walking playfully in a silver ball gown in front of a burning hillside with the caption: "Fire erupts wherever I am," AFP reported. However, in a massive snafu, the news agency mistook actor Humaira Asghar Ali for Dolly and ran the story with Ali's name.

The actor later clarified her stance on the matter after her name was mentioned in several news stories of several publications, such as Insider, Al Jazeera and the likes. The error, after being pointed out, has now been rectified in the latter publication.

Ali took to Instagram and issued a statement as well. "Many known local and international social media platforms and news channels have misunderstood and published my name Humaira Asghar in reference to Dolly aka Nousheen Syed, the renowned TikToker’s news about making a forest fire video that ignited anger," she penned.

Ali went on to add, "It is to be noted that I, Humaira Asghar Ali and Dolly, are two different people. And I have nothing to do with this case nor with Dolly or any related controversy. I humbly request all the media platforms which have misunderstood me with Dolly to fix the mistake."

Previously, Dolly took to social media to speak up in her own defence. The social media influencer had claimed that the fire was not set in the national park area, but instead in an area on the motorway.

Sharing a video speaking to a local of the area, Dolly could be seen clad in the same silver dress as the original video with a fire raging in the background. There is a brief glimpse of a billboard stating the location in the first few frames of the video, but the camera movement is too fast to make out what it reads.

The local man explains the reason behind the fire, which he claims to have started himself. In the video, he shares that the fire is used to drive snakes out of the vegetation or kill them, since they pose a danger to their children and livestock.

The caption of the video reads, “As you can see in this video, the billboard indicated the place which is motorway and not National Park Kohsar. Listen to the person in this video carefully so that you know the reality. I expect justice.”

After the initial video spread like wildfire over social media, Dolly, AKA Nosheen Syed, was charged on the complaint of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) under wildlife and environment protection laws.

The influencer, with over 11 million followers on TikTok, collaborated with fashion brand Bling for the video. In it, she can be seen walking and posing in front of a forest fire in the background. After severe backlash, the videos were removed from Dolly’s social media.

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