Murder of Social Media Star Shines Light on Pakistani Honour Killings

Qandeel Baloch, one of Pakistan’s most famous and controversial social media stars, has been strangled to death by her brother. Her brother told the media “Yes of course, I strangled her. Qandeel was bringing dishonor to the Baloch people and I could not tolerate that.” He even told the media the vivid account of the killing. This killings shins a light on the dark side of Pakistani culture.

Baloch was seen by many liberals as one who inspires and empowers women. A scathing editorial in Pakistan’s biggest English-language newspaper, Dawn, said her murder must serve as a pivot for anti-honour killings. The editorial also praises her action of pushing boundaries of what’s acceptable of women in Pakistan, and lived her own term as “act of courage”.

However, many conservatives push back by echoing Wasim’s statement that her family would have had “no choice”.

The only silver lining of this tragedy is that Qandeel put the practice of honour killing front and center. There are countless faceless women being killed due to so-called claims of honour. Moreover, the killers usually walk free thanks to a law that allows the family of the victim not to press any charges against the murderer, which the family usually do in the case of honour killing.

Benazir Jatoi, who works with a local NGO for women empowerment told AFP,

“Many in Pakistan have laid the blame for her death on her bold and provocative public acts. Qandeel has put a face to the countless ordinary Parkistani women that are murdered because society has given carte blanche to men.”

A columnist and activist, Aisha Sarawari said, ” her killing defines yet another setback for the women of our generation… This makes it harder for women.”According to the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Gender Gap Report, Pakistan was second to last on the list of 145 countries with regards to gender disparity.

Baloch had nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook. Her videos went viral but were also the subject of much debate and discomfort. Hamna Zubair, the culture editor of Pakistani newspaper Dawn, told CNN that she had received much criticism for printing pieces on Balock. One commentator asked her if she would be “reporting from a brothel”.

Balock’s posts encouraged her audience to challenge the status quo, the old norms of Pakistani society. She claimed herself as “modern day feminist” in one of her post on Facebook. Pakistani feminists had celebrated Baloch. Madiha Tahir, co-founder of the feminist magazine Tanqeed, called her a “gutsy feminist provocateur” who had exposed “the hypocrisy of the male-dominated establishment … through her social media videos.” She said

Qandeel’s death is not a matter of honour, but it is because of misogynistic culture of Pakistani society.

On the morning she was murdered, she posted a picture of herself staring defiantly into the camera. She had written she was a fighter. “I will bounce back,” she said, adding she wants to inspire women who have been “treated badly and dominated by society.”

Her body was buried on Sunday near her family home in southern Punjab.

Related