ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's most famous and controversial social media queen, Qandeel Baloch, real name Fauzia Azeem, was strangled to death in a case of "honor" killing, in Multan. The city's chief police officer said that Baloch was killed by her brother in her family home after he protested at the "kind of pictures she had been posting online."
Muhammad Waseem who fled right after the incident came to light, was caught over the weekend and un-repenting about his actions. In a press conference arranged by the police, he said he gave a "tablet" to Baloch to subdue her and then strangled her in their family home over the weekend. "I have no regrets," he said.
Baloch, 25, was from Kot Addu, Punjab province, and got her shot to fame with sassy and political videos she posted on Facebook. Her antics were usually flirty as she pouted and cooed, and "confessed" about her celebrity crushes. In a country like Pakistan where the women live on the lines drawn by males. Baloch had nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook and while her videos often went viral, she was also the subject of debate. Many of her posts even encouraged her viewers to question the traditional ways of their society. She even referred to herself as a "modern day feminist".
Co-founder of feminist magazine Tanqeed, Madiha Tahir called Baloch a "gutsy feminist provocateur" who had exposed "the hypocrisy of the male-dominated establishment, especially the clergy (Mufti Abdul Qavi), through her social media videos." Tahir said, "She wasn't rich. She was a working class woman who dared to be exactly herself." She said Baloch's death was not due to a matter of honour but due to the "pervasive misogyny" of Pakistani society.
Her provocative stints included declaring to perform a live strip tease online if Pakistan won a cricket match against India. In recent reports surfacing after her death, it was also known that the 25 year old feared for her life. Hassan Choudary, digital editor at Express Tribune Life & Style, said he had spoken with her on the phone recently, and she was sobbing and "feared for her life".
