Was the brutal attack on Lahore girl planned?

LAHORE – Soon after videos of a mob molesting a woman TikTok star at the Greater Iqbal Park in the heart of Punjab capital on Pakistan’s Independence Day went viral, a large number of social media users came out blaming the victim for the incident.

Though a vast majority stood by the victim TikTok star, Ayesha Akram, a considerable number of Pakistani social media users accused the victim of staging the entire incident for publicity. They were of the view that the girl had invited her fans and TikTok followers to Minar-e-Pakistan where she was going to shoot some videos on August 14.

Since TV anchors Iqrarul Hassan Syed and Yasir Shami had reached out to the girl soon after she came under the mob attack, many social media users started accusing them of maligning Pakistan by promoting a TikTok star who allegedly staged a mob attack on her for the sake of publicity.

However, a closer look at the mob attack on the young woman and the ensuing developments show the attack was not staged; it was real.

Talking to Daily Pakistan’s crime reporter Duaa Mirza, Dolphin policeman Zaman said there was a huge crowd when a police team reached the scene to rescue the girl from the mobsters. According to the cop, there were thousands of men who were pulling the girl right and left. The police team rescued the girl who was in a critical condition.

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Zaman said the police officials offered the girl some water and then arranged a shirt for her so that her body could be covered since the mobsters had ripped her clothes.

Responding to the social media critics, Iqrar ul Hassan Syed asked them to explain why top police officers of the Punjab Police were removed from their posts after the Ayesha Akram mob attack incident if it was a staged one.

اگر مینارِ پاکستان واقعہ عائشہ کا رچایا ہوا ڈراما تھا تو پھر اس واقعے کے بعد لاہور کے ڈی آئی جی آپریشنز ساجد کیانی کے تبادلے کی سفارش، ایس ایس پی آپریشنز، ایڈیشنل ایس پی آپریشنز کے تبادلے، مقامی ایس ڈی پی او اور ایس ایچ او کی معطلی کا حکم کیوں جاری ہوا ہے؟ #پاکستان_زندہ_باد pic.twitter.com/hE2dwnNLMg

— Iqrar ul Hassan Syed (@iqrarulhassan) August 20, 2021

Iqrar said in a video message, “I swear to God that what I did was not a publicity stunt nor a rating act. We just wanted to meet the brave girl who registered the FIR herself against those people.”

“Rambo, the person who’s always there with Ayesha in her videos and pictures told me that he was a part of team Sare aam volunteer force from a long time that’s why he was seen wearing the shirt of team Sare aam. There are more than 18-20 lac registered volunteers, I don’t have any direct contact with any one of them as they are assigned to do work on their own,” Iqrar added.

DailyPakistan’s Yasir Shami for also defended himself against the trolls.

Kia is larki ne invite kia tha Isko k wo a kr iski kiss kre ? Kia ye bhi Tiktoker ha ? Kia iska libas bhi fahash tha ? Kia is ne ye khud plan Kia tha ?? Plz Rehnumai farmaiyen #YasirShami pic.twitter.com/6Yds92F3Kl

— Yasir Shami (@YasirShami10) August 20, 2021

He posted a video showing a young man physically attacking a girl travelling by a motorcycle rickshaw on the Independence Day.