The brother of a slain social media star in Pakistan said he is “proud” of killing his sister. His actions were cheered on social media.
Qandeel Baloch was killed in the province of Punjab last Friday by strangulation. Her brother, Waseem Baloch, gave a televised news conference shortly afterward and confessed to an honor killing.
“I am proud of what I did. I drugged her first, then I killed her. She was bringing dishonor to our family,” Mr. Baloch said while flanked by police, CNN reported Monday. “Girls are born to stay home and follow traditions. My sister never did that.”
Qandeel, who identified as a “modern-day feminist,” had 750,000 Facebook followers at the time of her death. She was buried Sunday.
Herald Sun writer Rita Panahi consolidated numerous reactions from Pakistani Twitter accounts on Sunday that hailed Waseem’s crime as “good news.”
“She was a disgrace as a Pakistani and as a Muslim. Never liked her,” wrote Ahmed Mallick.
“Finally, good news after a long time,” added a user identified as Husnain.
“Where there are no honor killings there are h**s like Qandeel Baloch,” said Bellatrix.
The news curation website Twitchy noted Sunday that Pakistani journalist Haroon Rashid said, “Qandeel is herself responsible herself for what happened to her, she had not left any choice for her family.”
Over 200 honor killing have taken place this year in Pakistan, CNN reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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