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Brother Arrested for Killing Pakistani Social Media Star

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FILE - Pakistani fashion model Qandeel Baloch speaks during a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan, June 28, 2016.
FILE - Pakistani fashion model Qandeel Baloch speaks during a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan, June 28, 2016.

The brother of Pakistani model and social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch has been arrested for strangling her the day before.

Local media reported he confessed Saturday to drugging and strangling her for dishonoring their family name.

Baloch was spending the Eid holiday with her family and had travelled from Karachi to Muzaffarabad village in central Punjab province. She was asleep, police said, when one of her six brothers strangled Baloch in the family’s home.

Baloch, whose real name is Fauzia Azeem, became widely known in 2014 after a video, in which she asks a man “How am I looking,” went viral. She provoked controversy. She offended conservatives when she posted pictures of herself with Mufti Qavi, a well-known cleric.

Reports say Baloch enjoyed drinks and cigarettes with Qavi during the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Qavi denied the claim and said they only met to talk about teachings of Islam.

Baloch was also praised by young Pakistanis for breaking social taboos and condemning conservatives.

On earlier reports, she told the French News Agency that “people are going crazy—especially girls” after on Valentine’s Day, she posted a video going against the president’s message to stay away from “Western” influence. She was wearing a scarlet dress.

“I get so many calls where they [girls] tell me I’m their inspiration and they want to be like me, she said.

Baloch, according to reports, had talked about leaving Pakistan for safety reasons. She was receiving anonymous death threats.
Honor killings are often seen as punishment for going against traditions.

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