An influencer is being investigated over claims she started a forest fire to shoot a glamorous TikTok dance video

Advertisement
An influencer is being investigated over claims she started a forest fire to shoot a glamorous TikTok dance video
"Fire erupts wherever I am," read the caption of the now-deleted TikTok video.Twitter
  • A police report is said to have been filed over a video in which a TikToker danced by a forest fire.
  • Humaira Asghar, known as Dolly, sparked outrage and claims she started the fire, which she's denied.
Advertisement

An influencer in Pakistan is said to be facing a criminal investigation over claims she started a forest fire to shoot a glamorous TikTok dance video amid a deadly heat wave in the country.

Humaira Asghar, better known as Dolly to her 11.5 million TikTok followers, sparked massive outrage this week after sharing a video of herself in a long gown walking and dancing next to a fire in Pakistan's Margalla Hills. The area is part of the Himalayan foothills.

"Fire erupts wherever I am," the caption of the now-deleted video said.

According to the Pakistani media outlet The News, the Islamabad police filed a report over the video and are investigating whether Asghar violated the country's wildlife and environmental-protection laws.

"The area is part of Margalla Hills National Park which has reported multiple incidents of wildfires recently which damaged the ecosystem," the report said, per The News.

Advertisement

Asghar has denied starting the fire and said in a statement via her assistant that there was "no harm making videos," per Al Jazeera.

Her video has also sparked a backlash on social media, with many users criticizing her flippant attitude toward environmental issues.

"Do you know why the WEATHER in Pakistan is so hot these days?" a commenter tweeted. "We have less than 9 years to combat CLIMATE CHANGE, or the Earth's weather will NEVER be the same."

Rina Saeed Khan Satti, an environmental activist who is chair of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, said Asghar "should have been holding a bucket of water to extinguish the fire instead of glamorizing it," per Al Jazeera.

Asghar did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Advertisement

She is at least the second person recently accused of starting a forest fire in Pakistan while chasing social-media views, Al Jazeera said.

It's a "disturbing and dangerous trend," especially during the country's hot and dry season, Satti tweeted.

Over the past two months, Pakistan and its neighbor India have been hit by a severe heat wave that has killed dozens of people.

Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's federal minister for climate change, said in late April that her country had skipped the spring season and had gone directly from winter to summer, per Reuters.

{{}}