Police arrested Muhammad Waseem, brother and suspected murderer of Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch, late on Saturday.
Advertisement
In this picture taken on June 28, 2016, Pakistani fashion model Qandeel Baloch speaks during a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan. Make no mistake. The shock value in this case doesn’t rest so much in the misnomer that is “honour killing” as in the fact that it’s a celebrity murder.
Baloch’s controversial videos on social media are fairly predictable, as the BBC reported: “Most of the time she’s in bed, in a provocative outfit exposing as much skin as she can get away with, singing, dancing or just staring into the camera and pouting”.
Baloch offended many conservatives by posting pictures of herself with Mufti Qavi, a prominent cleric.
Qandeel Baloch was allegedly strangled to death for refusing to stop making music videos and modelling photos. She sought out help from the government, and had hoped for protection.
Police said they were looking for Waseem, who had disappeared.
During the World T20 tournament, Baloch had made news for promising to strip for Shahid Afridi if Pakistan beat India (which they didn’t).
The 25-year-old rose to fame with the sassy, and increasingly political, videos that she had started posting on Facebook.
Its sad to hear about Qandeel Baloch’s murder.
“Her father Azeem informed the police that his son Waseem has strangled Qandeel”, Ghazanfar said.
Baloch had struggled to reconcile her family’s conservative values with her social media stunts, including the selfie with the cleric that led to widespread condemnation from powerful religious figures.
“I will bounce back”, she said, adding she wanted to inspire women who have been “treated badly and dominated by society”.
Hundreds of women are murdered for “honor” every year in Pakistan. Worldwide news media like AFP has compared her to reality TV star and actress Kim Kardashian.
Advertisement
But in a country where women have fought for rights for decades, and acid attacks and honor killings remain commonplace, she was also reviled by many and frequently subject to misogynist abuse. Others, however, called Baloch “a disgrace” and congratulated her killer.
