MULTAN: A Pakistani man who murdered his celebrity sister was freed on Saturday after a court ruled it was not an “honor killing,” lawyers said, allowing their mother to pardon him.
Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death in 2016 by her brother Muhammad Waseem, who described her suggestive behavior on social media as “intolerable.”
In response to public outrage, Pakistan passed legislation supposedly closing a legal loophole that allowed family members to forgive those behind so-called “honor killings,” imposing a mandatory life sentence instead.
But after less than six years in prison, an appeal judge ruled that Baloch’s murder could not be defined as a crime of honor, dismissing his confession.
In line with Pakistan’s other laws on murder, the mother was allowed to grant his freedom.
“Waseem has been released from the prison in compliance with the order of honorable Lahore High Court,” his lawyer Sardar Mehboob told AFP.
“He is a free man now,” he added.
Waseem, 38, was released from jail in the eastern city of Multan after being acquitted on Monday.
Maleeka Bokhari a woman parliamentarian said the government was “undertaking a review of legal options” against the acquittal.
Earlier, Pakistan’s information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain had said the government will challenge the verdict at Pakistan’s top court.
“We as a nation should be ashamed of such (legal) system,” Hussain said on Twitter.
Baloch became famous for her flirty and defiant posts which flew in the face of the nation’s deeply conservative mores.
Waseem was arrested immediately after her death and later sentenced to life in prison for strangling her — brazenly telling the media he had no remorse.
The case became the most high-profile “honor killing” of recent years — where women are dealt lethal punishment by male relatives for purportedly bringing “shame” to the reputation of a family.
The court’s verdict published on Friday said he had been “acquitted from the case on the basis of compromise,” saying a confession from the killer “cannot be considered more than a piece of paper.”
In Baloch’s case, her parents initially insisted their son would be given no absolution, but they later changed their minds and said they wanted him to be forgiven.
A lawyer for the mother said she had given “her consent” to pardon him.
Brother freed over ‘honor killing’ of Pakistani social media star
https://arab.news/rsdt5
Brother freed over ‘honor killing’ of Pakistani social media star
- Qandeel Baloch was strangled in 2016 for bringing ‘dishonor’ on the family through her videos
- In 2019, a trial court sentenced her brother Waseem to life imprisonment after he confessed to murder
Islamabad, Tehran to extend electricity supply agreement for Pakistan’s southwest
- Tariffs to remain between 7.7–11.45 cents/kWh as Islamabad seeks stability for energy-short border regions
- Iran currently powers Gwadar and other border towns where Pakistan’s national grid remains limited
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have agreed to extend their cross-border electricity supply pact for the southwestern province of Balochistan, maintaining tariffs between 7.7 and 11.45 cents per kilowatt-hour, Pakistan’s energy ministry said on Tuesday.
The deal, first signed in 2002, underpins energy security for parts of southwestern Pakistan where the national grid remains underdeveloped and erratic supply has hampered both industry and residential consumption. Coastal towns like Gwadar and nearby Mand Town in Balochistan have for years relied on imported Iranian power as connectivity with Pakistan’s main transmission network is incomplete and local generation insufficient.
Iran currently exports 100 megawatts of electricity to Gwadar under a March 2023 agreement and could scale up deliveries once additional infrastructure is operational. In May 2023, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi jointly inaugurated the Polan–Gabd transmission line to enable another 100 MW of supply.
Energy ministry spokesperson Zafar Yab Khan confirmed the extension of the deal, saying it had been moved forward between the two governments.
“Yes, it is correct,” he told Arab News, adding that the revised agreement was expected to be placed before Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
However, the ECC, Pakistan’s top economic decision-making forum, did not take up the extension in its meeting on Tuesday.
Power trade between Iran and Pakistan has expanded gradually over two decades, with tariffs negotiated periodically to reflect fuel costs and cross-border infrastructure upgrades. In August 2023, the ECC approved amendments to a separate contract extending a 104-MW supply from Iran’s Jakigur district into Pakistan’s Mand town through December 2024.
Gwadar, a key node in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is expected to remain dependent on imported electricity until new domestic lines are completed, making continued Iranian supply critical for industries, port operations and basic household demand.
