Islamabad: The brother of Pakistani social
media star Qandeel Baloch has been arrested for her murder, confessing he
strangled her for “honour”.
Waseem Azeem was arrested in Dera Ghazi Khan
in central Pakistan, having earlier fled the family home and murder scene, late
on Saturday. “Yes, of course I strangled her,” he told journalists in a
press conference arranged by the police early on Sunday. “I have no regrets.” He
said that he acted alone and was “not embarrassed at all” because his sister’s
behaviour “was completely intolerable”. “She was on the ground floor while our
parents were asleep on the rooftop,” he said. “It was around 10.45 PM when I
gave her a tablet ... and then killed her.”
Azhar Ikram, the police chief in Multan,
where Baloch was killed, said: “Wasim confessed to his crime, saying he killed
his sister for honour after her recent objectionable videos, mostly posted on
Facebook.”
Baloch, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem,
rose to fame for her provocative social media posts that saw her praised by
some for breaking social taboos but condemned by conservatives.
On her final, July 4 post to her Facebook
page, which has almost 800,000 fans, she wrote: “I am trying to change the
typical orthodox mindset of people who don’t wanna come out of their shells of
false beliefs and old practices.”
Baloch first rose to prominence in 2013 when
she participated in season one of Pakistan
Idol. She was rumored to be one of the contestants from the upcoming season
ten of Bigg Boss.
The 26-year-old model, actress, feminist
activist and social media celebrity faced frequent misogynist abuse and death
threats but continued to post.
Earlier this year, Baloch offered to strip if
the Pakistani cricket team beat India.
She also posed for selfies with a
high-profile Muslim cleric in an incident that saw him swiftly rebuked by the country’s
religious affairs ministry.
Before her death Baloch spoke of worries
about her safety and had appealed to the interior ministry to provide her with
security for protection. No help was provided and the interior ministry has not
commented on her death.
She was killed on Friday night at her family’s
home near Multan. The killing sent shockwaves across Muslim Pakistan and
triggered an outpouring of grief on social media for Baloch.
More than 500 people, mostly women, die in
Pakistan each year in such killings, usually carried out by members of the
victim's family meting out punishment for bringing “shame” on the community.
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