Slain Pak social media star’s dad refuses to testify

Lahore: The high-profile murder of Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch has taken a new turn after her father retracted his earlier statement and refused to testify against one of the suspects, prompting the police to register a case against him.

During a court proceeding on Wednesday, Qandeel’s father and complainant Azeem Baloch refused to testify against Aslam, brother of Qandeel, whom he had earlier declared as one of the suspects in the case. In the FIR, Azeem had alleged that Aslam was involved in the planning of the murder of 25-year-old Qandeel.

However, in a court in Multan, he backtracked from his statement. Additional district and sessions judge Saeed Ahmad Raza ordered the police to register a case against Azeem. Police have registered a case against him under section 213 of Pakistan Penal Code. The court has already indicted three suspects — Qandeel’s brother Waseem, her cousin Haq Nawaz and taxi driver Abdul Basit. The suspects, however, denied committing the crime. Another suspect Zafar Khosa is absconding.

Police claimed that Waseem had made a confession of killing her sister in the presence of an area magistrate. But the counsel for the accused denied any such confession. Qandeel was found strangled in her house in Multan, some 350 kilometres from Lahore, on July 16, 2016. Her brother Waseem had confessed to having killed his sister ‘in the name of honour’.

In his confession video, Waseem had expressed no regret in killing his sister. “I am proud of what I did. I drugged her first then I killed her,” Waseem had said.