The 25 year-old Qandeel was strangled Friday at her family home in the city of Multan in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Baloch, who recently stirred controversy by posting pictures of herself with a Muslim cleric on social media, was strangled to death by her brother, police said Saturday, July 16, 2016. “It was around 10.45 pm when I gave her a tablet… and then killed her”.
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Qandeel Baloch, who began her career by appearing on Pakistani Idol, was a popular and divisive figure in conservative Pakistan, often appearing on television in revealing, non-traditional clothes to talk about feminist concepts. Relatives and a large number of local residents attended her funeral prayers in Shah Sadar Din village, around 130 kilometres from Multan. What’s more frightening is that we found no remorse on the assailant, Waseem, who had killed his own elder sister with his bare hands.
Her brother told police that her videos were “objectionable” and “intolerable” and that he had no regrets over killing her. “As women we must stand up for justice”, she wrote in a recent Facebook post. She pouted into the camera, discussed her hairstyles and shared cooing confessions about her celebrity crushes. “Now everybody will remember me with honour that I have provided relief to my parents and brothers who were suffering for the last two decades because of her”, Waseem said. “Murdering her was better than committing suicide so I went with the former plan”.
Qandeel was a household name in Pakistan, universally followed like Kim Kardashian West on social media, and sometimes just as controversial.
Her death has sparked a debate over “honour killings” and what is acceptable behaviour online for women in Pakistan.
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Qandeel became famous through her tireless self-promotion and suggestive “selfies” posted on social media and had amassed tens of thousands of followers.
