“The police arrested Muhammad Waseem, brother of Qandeel Baloch, for killing his sister late on Saturday”, Multan City police chief Azhar Akram told AFP. I killed her around 11.30pm on Friday night when everyone else had gone to bed. Her weapons included social media pictures and videos of herself that, in this religiously and socially conservative nation, were considered highly provocative.
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Following her death, her parents told the Tribune newspaper the 26-year-old’s brother Wasim killed her following an argument.
Almost 1,000 women are killed by close relatives in Pakistan each year for violating conservative norms on love and marriage.
The killers overwhelmingly walk free because of a law that allows the family of the victim to forgive the murderer – who is often also a relative.
Ms Qandeel Baloch, dubbed Pakistan’s “Kim Kardashian” for the sexy photos she shared online, was held up by numerous country’s youth for her willingness to break social taboos but condemned and reviled by traditional elements. “The last I called her for an interview, she was crying on the phone”, he said.
Baloch has been described as Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian and had built a modelling career on the back of her social media fame.
Baloch received recognition from the media when in 2013, she appeared as an auditionee on “Pakistani Idol”, her audition went viral and she became an Internet celebrity.
Baloch’s brother was upset over the “disrespect” she had caused to the family, said the police. Her latest social media message had her promising the Pakistan cricket team that if he won their match against India, she would strip for him. She had expressed her desire many times to marry ex-cricketer and opposition politician Imran Khan.
Baloch’s father told local media his son had stayed overnight at the family home and quarrelled with Baloch over money and her risque photos.
Baloch had been dominating the headlines after videos of her twerking to a song were deemed objectionable.
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“She was killed because she said and did things that made people feel uncomfortable and angry”, said Erum Haider, a Karachi native and PhD student at Georgetown University.
