Actor and social media influencer Humaira Asghar Ali was laid to rest on Friday in the Model Town Q Block graveyard in Lahore, following a sparsely-attended funeral that marked the end of a deeply tragic and unsettling saga. Her burial came days after her decomposed body was discovered in her Karachi apartment. The actor’s remains were found on Tuesday inside her rented fourth-floor flat in DHA’s Ittehad Commercial area when police arrived with a court-appointed bailiff to execute an eviction over unpaid rent. Officers forced open the door and discovered what they estimate to be a body that had been decomposing for between eight and 10 months.
According to Gulf News, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Asad Raza said, “The expiry dates of food and drinks in the refrigerator are from September 2024. The last outgoing and incoming activity on her phone also dates back to October 2024. Both SIMs in her phone have been inactive since then. Electricity to the apartment was disconnected around the same time due to non-payment of bills.”
An initial post-mortem revealed that the body was too decomposed to establish a cause of death. While police have not ruled out foul play, they stated that further clarity would come from pending chemical and histopathological reports. “If any foul play is involved, they will register an FIR and initiate legal proceedings,” officials said.
The discovery triggered a wave of public outrage, particularly after police initially stated that the family had refused to claim the body. This allegation led to widespread criticism on social media and prompted interventions from celebrities such as Yashma Gill and Sonya Hussyn, as well as offers of support from the Sindh culture department and the Sindh governor’s office. However, as reported by Arab News, on Thursday, Humaira’s brother, Naveed Asghar, arrived in Karachi and took custody of her body to transport it to Lahore for burial. Speaking to journalists, he denied claims that the family had abandoned her. “The body was in police custody. The police had kept the body for investigation before calling us (the family) to claim it,” he clarified.
He added, “According to the guidelines, we were (eventually) going to receive the body and perform the rites.” Naveed said that the family had been in touch with both the Chhipa Welfare Association and police, including Station House Officer Farooq Ahmed Sanjrani of Gizri Police, for the past three days. Naveed criticised media coverage that portrayed the family as indifferent, stating, “The media’s focus was entirely on our family. It never highlighted other possible causes of death.” He explained the delay in claiming the body was due to procedural and emotional challenges. “Due to the condition of the body, we could not carry it at that moment,” he said, noting that the police were still completing legal formalities.
He also revealed that the family had recently experienced another loss. “My parents were distressed due to the recent death of another close relative,” he shared, suggesting that this contributed to their delayed response. Addressing his sister’s isolated lifestyle, Naveed said, “She moved to Karachi and had been living here for the last seven years… she would visit home after several months or even a year at times.” He added that “She didn’t contact us for a year, although our mother had reached out to her asking about her whereabouts.”
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Humaira’s mobile phone, he said, had been switched off for the last six months. “We could not trace her number either,” he said. Her final known public activity was a fashion shoot in September 2024, around the time of her last Instagram post, dated September 30. Her WhatsApp messages also stopped being read in early October, with her stylist’s message on October 20 remaining unopened. Known for her presence on TikTok and Instagram, Humaira Asghar had once been a visible face in Pakistan’s entertainment and influencer circles. But in recent years, she had grown increasingly reclusive. Despite the polished public image she maintained online, she reportedly led a solitary life, with neighbors unaware of her fate for nearly a year. The apartment next to hers was unoccupied, and no complaints of odour were reported.
