Muhammad Waseem, brother of Qandeel Baloch who strangled her to death. PHOTO: AFP
MULTAN: The brother of social media celebrity Fauzia Azeem, popularly known as Qandeel Baloch, who drugged and strangled his sister, has brazenly said he has no regrets because she had ‘dishonoured the family’.
“I had made up my mind to kill her when her controversial video with Mufti Abdul Qavi went viral on social media,” said 25-year-old Muhammad Waseem, who was traced by police through his cellphone SIM late Saturday night.
Drugged Qandeel before strangling her to death, says brother
Waseem, a drug addict, was referring to a video and selfies Qandeel uploaded on her Facebook and Twitter accounts with the cleric, Mufti Abdul Qavi, in Ramazan. The selfies went viral on social media and triggered a spat between her and the cleric on broadcast media.
“I had made up my mind that day, and I was waiting for my sister to come to come home in Dera Ghazi Khan or nearby Multan district,” Waseem told the media at the office of CPO Multan DIG Azhar Akram after his arrest. “I’ve no regrets. Instead I’m proud of what I did,” he added. “I’ve earned a place in heaven by relieving the agony of my parents and family.”
“I gave her sleeping pills and then strangled her,” Waseem said, adding that it was his personal act, and nobody had abetted the crime. “We are Baloch and as Baloch we cannot tolerate [Qandeel’s immodesty],” he added. “Though I’m a drug addict, I murdered her in my senses,” he said, confirming that it was a premeditated willful murder.
Social media starlet murdered for honour
Qandeel had built up a large social media fan-base, with 43,000 Twitter followers and more than 700,000 on Facebook. She frequently posted pictures considered risqué and raunchy by conservatives who subjected her to misogynist abuse online; however, many younger people hailed her liberal views.
In a recent interview she was bitterly critical of the country’s patriarchal society and described herself as a leading exponent of girl power. “Girls are supposed to stay at home and honour family traditions, but she defied them,” Waseem said. “My friends used to taunt me by sharing her risqué videos and pictures on my cellphone.”
Waseem was presented in court on Sunday where he recorded his confessional statement. He told the judge that he would not hire a lawyer to defend himself. “I saved my family honour and I’m ready for any punishment,” he said. The judge subsequently handed him over to police on seven-day remand.
Revealing Qandeel’s real identity put her life at risk
Surprisingly, Qandeel’s body was kept in the mortuary of Multan’s Nishtar Hospital for more than 12 hours as her parents did not claim it, fearing their sons would kill them also, according to local police. Medics at the hospital told The Express Tribune that Qandeel was killed between 9 to 10pm on Friday.
The death was, however, reported to Rescue 1122 around 11am on Saturday, and the body had been moved to the Nishtar Hospital around 2pm where autopsy was performed. Since nobody from the family had come to claim the body, police decided to arrange a funeral. The body was shifted to Shah Saddurddin, a tribal area of Dera Ghazi Khan district, to which Qandeel belonged, Sunday morning. Thousands of people, including rights campaigners from across south Punjab, attended the funeral. Interestingly, Mufti Qavi had offered to lead the funeral prayers. She was laid to rest at her ancestral graveyard.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2016.
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