Yesterday brought us the awful news that Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch had tragically been murdered by her brother in an ‘honour killing’, in her family home near Multan.
Baloch, a model and reality star, was known for her posts regarding intersectional feminism; she was a champion of ending the stigmatisation of female sexuality and empowering women in a country that is extremely conservative with the idea of female independence.
While she became an icon in the West for her bravery in standing up against societal and cultural norms that restricted her as a woman, she was obviously incredibly polarising in Pakistan and often was in the middle of controversy and headlines.
Her brother, who fleed after strangling her in her sleep and was arrested the following day in the neighbouring district of Muzaffargarh, has now spoken openly about his motives.
At a press conference overnight, Wasim Azeem stated that his sister’s videos were “objectionable” and “intolerable”, and that he was “not ashamed” of what he had done:
“Yes of course, I strangled her. I am not ashamed. We are Baloch and as Baloch we cannot tolerate this.Money matters, but family honour is more important.I was determined either to kill myself or kill her.I am not embarrassed at all over what I did. Whatever was the case, it [Qandeel’s actions] was completely intolerable.”
He also explained his actions step-by-step for the press:
“She was on the ground floor while our parents were asleep on the rooftop.It was around 10.45pm when I gave her a tablet … and then killed her.”
His father Muhammad Azeem, who turned his son in to police, has told press that he believes Wasim was acting on the instruction of his older brother, Aslam Shaheen. Both brothers have now been charged with murder, and local police said they would be seeking the ‘maximum punishment’ for Wasim.
However, in Pakistan, an ‘honour killing’ mean that the incident can be tried as a private offence, which allows the offender to be pardoned by the victim’s family. Every year, hundreds of women are murdered in honour killings for testing the conservative norms of love, marriage, dress, temperament, etc.
Pakistani newspapers have published odes to and memorials of Qandeel Baloch, and calling for a legislative end to honour killings in Pakistan.
APOLOGY
Yesterday when reporting the murder of Qandeel Baloch, we titled the story ‘Provocative Social Media Star Murder By Her Own Brother’. We acknowledge that the use of the word ‘provocative’ was completely inappropriate given the context of the story, and we have removed the headline out of respect for both Qandeel Baloch, and our readers who were distressed by the headline. We unreservedly apologise for our mistake.
Source: Telegraph.
Photo: Instagram.
