Pakistan(National Times)- First Lady and Member of National Assembly (MNA) Aseefa Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday condemned the brutal murder of Sana Yousaf, who was killed on the eve of her 17th birthday, in Islamabad. Calling it a stark reminder of the violence women and girls face simply for asserting their rights, Aseefa extended her condolences to Sana\u2019s family, the community in Chitral, and all those grieving this senseless loss. \u201cSana was just a girl \u2014 with ambition, with dreams, with a life ahead of her,\u201d the first lady said. \u201cShe had every right to live freely and safely. What happened to her wasn\u2019t just an act of violence \u2014 it was a punishment for saying no. And that should horrify every one of us.\u201d The young social media influencer was killed at her home in Islamabad on June 2, by a youngster who had repeatedly contacted her online and resorted to violence upon rejection.\u00a0 The 22-year-old man \u2014 also a TikToker who spent hours loitering outside Sana’s home \u2014 was arrested on suspicion of her murder within 24 hours after the crime. Sana had more than 800,000 followers on TikTok, a wildly popular social media platform in Pakistan, where she posted lip-sync videos, skincare tips, and promotional content for beauty products and clothing brands.\u00a0 Aseefa highlighted that violence stemming from male entitlement is neither new nor rare \u2014 and must no longer be tolerated under the guise of culture or tradition. \u201cThis mindset that a woman\u2019s rejection is an insult, that her choices need to be controlled \u2014 it\u2019s old, it\u2019s cruel and it\u2019s killing our daughters. My mother, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, broke those walls with her own strength. She didn\u2019t just lead \u2014 she opened doors for millions of women to follow. And we owe it to her legacy, and to young women like Sana, to keep those doors open.\u201d Addressing the wave of online abuse directed at Sana after her death, Aseefa rejected the idea that social media use or self-expression could ever be used to justify violence. \u201cThere is nothing \u2014 no app, no photo, no video \u2014 that excuses murder. It\u2019s disturbing to see people using Sana\u2019s TikTok presence to explain away her death. If that\u2019s the logic, are we saying millions of girls across Pakistan are also at risk? This kind of thinking is not just dangerous \u2014 it\u2019s inhumane.\u201d She closed with a message of solidarity and defiance to young women across the country. \u201cTo every girl watching this unfold \u2014 don\u2019t let them silence you. You have the right to dream, to speak, to exist without fear. Don\u2019t back down. If you do, they win. But if we keep pushing forward together we\u2019ll shape a country where girls aren\u2019t blamed for their own deaths, but celebrated for their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan(National Times)- First Lady and Member of National Assembly (MNA) Aseefa Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday condemned the brutal murder of Sana Yousaf, who was killed on the eve of her 17th birthday, in Islamabad. Calling it a stark reminder of the violence women and girls face simply for asserting their rights, Aseefa extended her condolences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n