On the orders of tribal elders, houses of four persons have been burnt in Tirah Valley of the district Khyber to punish them for making videos of local women on a social media app, TikTok, and then uploading these on social media. While some people have hailed the step, others have described it as an inhuman act.  Although making videos on TikTok is a craze in Pakistan, some people oppose it on religious and moral grounds.

This is particularly true about the country’s rural and tribal areas where such practices are normally discouraged.   In this connection, a resolution, seeking a complete ban on TikTok, was submitted in the Punjab Assembly on Sunday. The resolution was moved by Opposition MPA Farrukh Javed Moon, who urged the federal government to immediately block TikTok across Pakistan, citing moral and social concerns.

According to the text of the resolution, the TikTok “mafia” is allegedly promoting obscenity and vulgarity through live chats, leading the youth, particularly children, toward indecent activities. The resolution claimed that young boys and girls engaged in immoral conversations and inappropriate acts for cheap fame and money on the platform.

It further stated that such practices are intolerable in an Islamic society and pose a grave risk to the moral fabric of the nation. It is demanded in the resolution that the federal government impose an urgent ban on TikTok and its live chat features to safeguard the younger generation from “moral destruction”.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)