Pakistan: Accident claims lives of three filming TikTok video

Lahore [Pakistan]: In a tragic accident near Sheikhupura district of Punjab, three youths lost their lives while shooting a video for the popular video-sharing platform TikTok, as reported by ARY News.

The victims, residents of Khanqah Dogran city in Safdarabad Tehsil, were on a motorcycle, capturing footage for TikTok when the incident occurred. Distraction led to a head-on collision with a car approaching from the opposite direction, resulting in the tragic deaths of the three young men.

The deceased have been identified as Anas, Rizwan, and Mubeen, according to ARY News.
This incident echoes a recurring and concerning trend where lives are lost during the creation of short videos. In 2020, a 13-year-old boy in Karachi lost his life while creating a TikTok video.

In another incident, three individuals were injured, and a teenager lost his life after being struck by a hi-roof vehicle while filming a video at Lyari expressway. According to police reports, all three were recording a video for the popular short-video app.

Notably, on December 24, Jamia Binoria Town, a prominent religious school in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, issued a fatwa (a religious decree) declaring the use of TikTok illegal and ‘haram’, terming it the biggest temptation of the modern era, Pakistani vernacular media reported.

In the fatwa, the institution outlined ten reasons supporting its stance.

The fatwa, delivered online by Jamia Binoria, asserts that TikTok poses an increasing danger as a ‘fitna’ (temptation) in the present age and is considered illegal and haram from a Shariah perspective.
Among the reasons cited, the app’s inclusion of photos and videos of animals is deemed forbidden in Sharia, and the creation and dissemination of obscene videos by women on the platform is highlighted, Dawn News TV report added.

Furthermore, the fatwa condemns the practice of men and women on TikTok making videos involving dancing and singing, which is viewed as a means of spreading obscenity and nudity, deemed a waste of time and leading to moral decay.

Jamia Banoria’s fatwa underscores that TikTok not only contains videos that mock scholars and religion but is a platform where everything can be subjected to mockery and ridicule.

In the past, religious scholars have been calling for a ban on TikTok as a reason for spreading immorality, and a partial ban has also been imposed on TikTok time and again in Pakistan, Dawn News TV reported.

In 2021, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority imposed a five-month ban on the video-sharing app from July to November. The ban was lifted after TikTok provided assurances that it would enhance measures to control indecent or immoral content on the platform, The Express Tribune reported.