'Honour killing' of social media star shocks Pakistan

'Honour killing' of social media star shocks Pakistan

Qandeel Baloch takes a selfie in an image posted on the Facebook page of the slain social media celebrity. (Reuters Photo)
Qandeel Baloch takes a selfie in an image posted on the Facebook page of the slain social media celebrity. (Reuters Photo)

LAHORE: Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was strangled in what appeared to be an "honour killing" by her brother, police said on Saturday, shocking the country where she was viewed as a controversial figure.

Baloch's suggestive online photos, which led some to draw comparisons with the likes of American reality TV icon Kim Kardashian, challenged social norms in Pakistan, a deeply conservative Muslim country where women are often repressed by their family members or the community.

Punjab Police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar told Reuters that Baloch, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, was killed in her family home in Multan, a large city in Punjab province. She had been strangled while she slept on Friday night.

"Her father Azeem informed the police that his son Waseem has strangled Qandeel," Ghazanfar said. "Apparently, it is an honour killing but further investigations would reveal the real motives behind this murder."

Police were now looking for Waseem, who had disappeared, she added.

Baloch, 26, was little known until recently, when she offended many conservatives by posting pictures of herself with Mufti Qavi, a prominent cleric. She said the two of them enjoyed soft drinks and cigarettes together during the daylight hours in the holy month of Ramadan, when practising Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.

The pictures and allegations caused a scandal, and the government removed Qavi from the official moon-sighting committee that determines when Ramadan starts and ends.

Baloch had said Qavi told her he wanted to see her face before the committee met to determine the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, which was observed earlier this month.

Qavi denied the allegations, saying he only met with her to discuss the teachings of Islam.

Earlier this month, Baloch sought protection from government, saying she was receiving anonymous death threats.

Local media reported that Baloch had struggled to reconcile her family's conservative values with her social media stunts and received frequent threats from the public.

Baloch married Ashiq Hussain 2008 and had one son with him. The two separated in 2010 with Baloch claiming her husband was abusive.

More than 500 people are slain in Pakistan each year in "honour killings", usually carried out by members of the victim's family meting out punishment for bringing "shame" on the community. The killers often walk free because of a law that allows relatives of the victim to forgive the murderer.

Baloch had travelled with her family from Karachi to Muzzafarabad village in central Punjab province for the recent Eid holiday. She reportedly had spoken of leaving the country after Eid out of fear for her safety.

Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, whose documentary on honour killings, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, won an Academy Award earlier this year, told AFP the murder would make women feel less safe.

"I really feel that no woman is safe in this country, until we start making examples of people, until we start sending men who kill women to jail, unless we literally say there will be no more killing and those who dare will spend the rest of their lives behind bars," she said.

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