London, August 19, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A 28-year-old social media content creator with more than 1.3 million followers was shot dead by two unidentified men in Taxila near Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, highlighting renewed concerns over violence against women and social media influencers in the country.
Shamso Bibi, who was known online as Ayesha Gilamana, was killed on August 14. Her brother, Niamatullah, said the killing was allegedly linked to a financial dispute and appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif to intervene and ensure justice, according to a report by British newspaper The Independent.
In a complaint, Bibi’s father Fazal Sahibzada alleged that a man identified as Kashif called his daughter outside their Taxila home. She subsequently left in a car with her sister and brother.
According to the police report, when the vehicle reached an area near a market, two men riding a motorcycle allegedly opened fire. Bibi was struck in the neck and died from her injuries.
A video purportedly showing the incident has circulated on social media. It appears to show two motorcycle-borne men stopping near Bibi’s vehicle and firing at it from close range. The car subsequently lost control and collided with a dumper truck, seriously injuring Bibi’s sister.
In his complaint, Sahibzada said his daughter had been making TikTok videos for around three to four years and had accumulated more than one million followers and 30-35 million likes.
Her killing comes amid concerns over the scale of gender-based violence in Pakistan. Islamabad-based organisation Sahil documented 3,172 cases of gender-based violence across the country during the first six months of 2026, including 18 cases involving transgender persons, according to figures reported by Pakistani daily Dawn.
The data included 644 murders, 514 cases of torture, 462 abductions, 363 suicides, 280 rape cases, 175 cases of injuries, 132 honour killings and 21 other offences, including harassment, gang rape and pornography-related cases.
Among the victims whose ages were recorded, 334 were between 21 and 30 years, 306 were aged 11-20 and 120 were between 31 and 40. The ages of victims were not recorded in 71 per cent of the cases.
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