Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons
Qandeel Baloch, Pakistani model and influencer, was killed in July 2016 by Muhammad Waseem.
By Hafsah Zaman Mehdi ’25
Staff Writer
Content warning: this article discusses murder, gendered violence and sexual assault.
Last Monday, Muhammad Waseem was fully acquitted in an appeals court of the 2016 murder of his sister, Qandeel Baloch — a murder to which he confessed. Waseem’s acquittal, despite both confession and evidence against him, is reflective of a larger pattern of failure to deliver justice to victims of femicide in Pakistan.
Baloch was one of Pakistan’s first social media stars, rising to fame in the early 2010s with entertaining skits and videos that defined the emerging vlogging culture of the time — her Facebook page was full of pictures and videos of her pouting into the camera and lip-syncing to music. For Baloch, the catch was that she and her audience were in Pakistan, a country with conservative norms regarding modesty, behavior and expectations that often uniquely targeted women, Al Jazeera reported. Baloch advocated for autonomy for the modern Pakistani woman that simply did not exist in mainstream media. According to CNN, she wore what she wanted, said what she wanted and lived how she wanted, in a manner markedly more provocative than that of other Pakistani women with platforms as large as hers.
Baloch’s persona created controversy. However, her murder sparked outrage even among those who initially maligned her. According to Al Jazeera, in July 2016, Baloch was found asphyxiated to death, which was planned and executed by her brother Waseem in retaliation against her online persona and behavior. He said in a press conference that he killed her “for honor” — specifically, the honor of their family. He confessed to the killing during the same press conference, expressing no regret. The trial continued until 2019, when Waseem was sentenced to life imprisonment, a decision that was subsequently overturned.
The acquittal — in a seemingly clear-cut case — follows a long-existing pattern in Pakistan’s history of misogynistic violence, in which even high profile cases like Baloch’s are strained throughout the legal process. Last summer, a man named Usman Mirza videotaped himself sexually assaulting a couple alongside his accomplices in Islamabad. Despite video footage of the crime, investigators claimed that there was not enough evidence for a conviction.
According to Mishaal Abbas ’25, a student from Karachi, Pakistan, the acquittal of Baloch’s brother and the inconsistent judicial treatment of the case is indicative of Pakistani society’s wider stagnation in its maltreatment of women.
“While social norms and culture do take a long time to change, government institutions can easily help facilitate this change and they are currently doing an awful job at it,” Abbas said.
As the nation approaches the Aurat March — Pakistan’s annual public protest for women’s rights, which will occur on March 8 — conversations regarding misogyny in Pakistan are emerging back into the limelight, and the lack of justice delivered to Baloch and her legacy are sparking outrage once again, in the form of demonstrations across the country.
“Talking about stuff like this isn’t as triggering as it used to be because it’s become the norm in Pakistan to expect the worst when you are a woman,” Azme Tariq ’25, a student from Lahore, Pakistan, said. “While we are taking steps to create change, I think educating an entire nation and creating strict consequences for these actions against women is what will drive this outdated misogyny out of Pakistani society.”