Pakistani Influencer Criticised After She Sets Fire To The Forest For A TikTok Video

Environment campaigners have raised the alarm after an influencer from Pakistan reportedly posed for a TikTok video in front of a raging forest fire.

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The creator, @DollyOfficiall, is alleged to have shared the video with her 11 million TikTok followers.

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.

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

According to the Pakistani media outlet, 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.

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.

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

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.

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The TikTok star, however, has now offered additional clarification in a further video.It shows the woman in conversation with a man in front of the fire. 

The local then explains how it was him who set the bush alight to smoke out snakes hiding in there. He says the fire drives away big snakes that otherwise are a danger to the vulnerable children in the village.The TikToker then walks away from the camera after the person filming the video warns her snakes could be showing up any moment.