Pakistani model Qandeel Baloch in a photo from her Facebook page.
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The brother of Pakistan’s social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch has been arrested in Punjab province for strangulating to death the 26-year-old model for “dishonouring” the family’ reputation, the latest case of honour killings that plague the country.
Born on March 1st 1990, the deceased whose real name was Fouzia Azeem, gained popularity by posting bold, sassy, and controversial photos, videos, and comments on social media.
Qandeel’s brother, Wasim, was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning hours after he killed his sister.
According to a preliminary [investigation] and statements from her parents, her brother strangled her, said Azhar Akram, Multan’s police chief. Murder carries a potential death sentence, and the honor killing charge will make Azeem ineligible for a family pardon.
More than 500 people, mostly women, die in Pakistan each year in such killings, usually carried out by members of the victim’s family meting out punishment for bringing “shame” on the community.
Baloch’s body was found yesterday and her father Muhammad Azeem had told the police that his son Waseem strangled her, Ghazanfar said.
Qandeel was derided and feted in equal measure in Pakistan. If you remember once she also posted a video about Indian Prime Minister Narender Modi.
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”.
She was a divisive figure in conservative Pakistan but had hundreds of thousands of fans on Facebook and regularly appeared on television shows and in news interviews.
She joined other liberals in Pakistan who called for anti-honour killing legislation.
She also recently promised to perform a public striptease if the Pakistani cricket team won a major tournament.
Baloch was in her late 20s or her early 30s and lived near the city of Multan.
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“Qandeel has put a face to the countless ordinary Pakistani women that are murdered because society has given carte blanche to men”, she added.
