Qandeel Baloch strangled to death by brother for ‘honour’

MULTAN: Qandeel Baloch, social media celebrity and selfie queen, was strangled to death allegedly by her younger brother at her residence, police said.

Her body was recovered on Saturday morning. Qandeel, 26, had been in Multan for the last six days.

RPO Sultan Azam Taimuri said her younger brother Wasim Baloch strangled the celebrity on Friday night and she died by suffocation. The killer managed to escape from the scene but was later arrested and presented before the media. He confessed to killing his sister. He said he decided to kill his sister as he could not face the insults hurled by people after Qandeel’s scandal with Maulana Qavi. He said he gave sleeping pills to his sister and strangulated her when she was sleeping. He said he had no regrets as he had committed this act to save his honour.

Qandeel was popular for posting provocative videos and statements on Facebook. “Qandeel has been killed, she was strangled to death by her brother, apparently it was an incident of honour killing,” said Taimuri. He said her brother was upset at the “disrespect” Qandeel had caused to the family.

CPO Azhar Ikram said a case was registered on the complaint of her father Aziz Baloch, adding that they were investigating the murder and police teams had been dispatched to hunt down the killer.

The Muzaffarabad police sources, where the murder took place, said Qandeel’s brother was threatening her to stop posting provocative pictures and videos on social media.

She had started her career as a bus hostess. Her real name was Fauzia Azim but she had chosen Qandeel Baloch after taking up modelling.

Qandeel had captured space in newspapers and television channels in mid June last when she had issued her selfie with cleric Mufti Abdul Qavi wearing his cap on social media. The PTI suspended his basic party membership soon after the release of the controversial selfies. The Ruet-e-Hilal Committee and the National Ulema Mashaikh Council too suspended the cleric’s membership.

Later, Qandeel informed the government about receiving life threats soon after the revelation of her pictures and videos with Mufti Qavi and demanded protection.

Mufti Qavi had faced a backlash after his pictures and videos were uploaded on social media. In the video, which was uploaded on her Facebook account, Qavi is seen saying, he will guide the starlet on religious matters, and she had agreed to become his student.

Qandeel had planned settling abroad after failing to receive positive response on her application concerning the provision of security.

A Multan-based activist Shahbaz Ali Gormani filed a petition in a local court against Qandeel, challenging the use of the Baloch caste in her surname, as he claimed that ‘she had brought shame to the Baloch race due to her activities’.

Earlier this week, her secret marriage disclosure developed further controversies. Qandeel said it was a forced marriage.

Talking to journalists in Multan some days back, Ashiq Hussein, a youth from Kot Addu, claimed that he married Qandeel in 2008 and she gave birth to a son.

“The brother was also there last night and the family told us that he strangled her to death,” the CPO said. Her father informed the police that his son killed Qandeel. Neighbours said Wasim had been running a mobile phone shop in Dera Ghazi Khan.

The police have registered a murder case under sections 302/109 on the complaint made by her father.

According to the complainant, Qandeel joined showbiz and had come to Multan from Karachi to spend time with her family on Eid. She was living with them in a rented home in Green Town on the Multan-Muzaffarabad Road.

Her brother Wasim visited his house on July 14. He always censured her for adopting showbiz as a career and repeatedly tried to force her to shun the profession. He and his wife were sleeping on the rooftop on Friday night while Qandeel Baloch was sleeping on the ground floor.

The complainant says he is a disabled person. When he woke up in the morning, his son was seen in the house while the exit door was unlocked. He presumed that Qandeel was sleeping. Moments later, when he entered the room he found Qandeel. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth and there were signs of strangulation around the neck. He informed the police immediately.

The complainant stated that his son strangled Qandeel to death in the name of honour and for money, adding that Wasim committed the crime on the instigation of his other son Aslam Shaheen, serving in the Pakistan army.

The autopsy of Qandeel’s body, conducted at Nishtar Hospital, confirmed strangulation as the cause of death. It also found marks around her neck, showing that she had offered resistance.

Reuters adds: In Facebook posts, she spoke of trying to change “the typical orthodox mindset” of people in Pakistan.

Baloch had struggled to reconcile her family’s conservative values with her social media stunts.

Baloch’s death sparked an outpouring of grief on Twitter and other social media websites and reignited a debate about honour killings in Pakistan.

Baloch is described as Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian and had built a modelling career on the back of her social media fame.

She recently also appeared in a music video, gyrating bare legged to an Urdu-language song in high-heels and a see-through top.

Earlier this year Baloch offered to strip if the wildly popular Pakistani cricket team beat arch-rival India.

When they lost, she berated the Pakistani cricketers and posted a video in which she danced for the Indian team wearing a bikini.

Though popular with many liberals, Baloch often struggled with the frequent abuse aimed at her.

In one Facebook post this month, she thanked her supporters for “understanding the message I try to convey through my bold posts and videos”.

She added: “It’s time to bring a change because the world is changing.

“After her death, #QandeelBaloch began trending on Twitter in Pakistan, with many people offering support for her efforts to make Pakistan a more liberal society for women.

Others, however, could not hide their delight that she had been silenced.

“What she (was) doing is a disgrace for Pakistan so she deserve this,” said Twitter user Asad Iqbal Orakzai.