A trial court in Multan on Thursday set aside a request by the parents of slain social media star Qandeel Baloch to pardon her brothers, who are accused of killing her.
Baloch’s brother Waseem had strangled her to death in the name of “honour” at their house in 2016. He later confessed to have killed her because she allegedly “brought dishonour to the Baloch name” with her risqué videos and statements posted on social media. Her brother Aslam Shaheen was also nominated in the case.
The social media celebrity’s parents, Muhammad Azeem and Anwar Bibi, had on Wednesday submitted an affidavit in the local trial court, saying they had forgiven the killers and the case against their sons should be thrown out.
They had argued that since the Anti-Honour Killing Laws (Criminal Amendment Bill), 2015 — which bars pardoning killers in such cases — was passed several months after the murder of their daughter, it could not be applied in this case. They had also denied the allegation that Baloch was killed for the sake of honour.
The judge asked them whether they were only pardoning their sons and not all the accused in the murder case, to which the parents responded in affirmative.
Judge Shafi informed them that he would decide their request after examining whether law grants them the right to pardon the killers or not.
