Qandeel Baloch: What the release of a sister-killer means for Pak women

Call it a macabre Valentine's Day gift to the women of Pakistan. On February 14, 2022, the Lahore high court’s Multan bench cancelled the life imprisonment of Waseem Khan, brother of Qandeel Baloch — who was murdered in one of the country's most notorious and sensational “honour killings” cases, in July 2016 — after serving less than six years in prison. When Waseem was arrested (and later sentenced to life in prison) for strangling Qandeel, he had told the press that he felt no remorse because he found her "intolerable".His acquittal last week, however, took place as “witnesses deviated from their statements in the trial court and Qandeel’s mother submitted a reconciliation agreement stipulating parental pardon”. medium89686705Who is Qandeel Baloch? Qandeel was the social media star who captured the social and cultural imagination of Pakistan. The defiant 26-year-old through her posts challenged the deeply patriarchal order of her country, often taking on the purveyors of religious and cultural economy, which dictates over what is high or low brow culture. While some would deride her for using sexually suggestive videos to build her brand, others mocked her unflinching ambition to be something more than a small town girl from an impoverished background. But one thing was for sure, no one could ignore her; her videos would always go viral. That she was unusual to Pakistan was evident in how people were always struggling to typify her. Some labelled her “Pakistan’s Poonam Pandey” because she promised to strip for the cricket team if they won a WT20 match against India. And some called her “Pakistan’s Kim Kardarshian” as she had built a celebrity persona through social media. When she was murdered, the news channel tickers referred to her as a “model and an actresses”. Clearly, there was no one way to explain her. medium89686787In cold blood At the time of her murder, her parents had named their two sons — Waseem and Aslam , a nephew Haq Nawaz and the cleric Muhammad Abdul Qavi — as part of the conspiracy. They vowed that they would never forgive them for the honour killing and their steadfast stance was greatly celebrated by Pakistani women. Taking into consideration the public outcry over Qandeel's murder, the Pakistani state also listed itself as a complainant in the FIR. This was to ensure that even if the victim's family was to pardon the murderers (which is a common practice in cases of honour killing in this part of the world), it would still be difficult for the convicted to escape harsh punishment. medium nocaption89688866By adding Section 305 and Section 311 of the Pakistan Penal Code to the FIR, it meant that if a "wilful murder" is committed in the name or in the pretext of honour, the accused or convict can no longer be considered the victim's legal heirs and speak for the victim. It also means a waiver of qisa (which is used under Islamic law for retaliation and compensation).”However, whether it was a shoddy investigation or the loopholes that continue to haunt the law, it was only Waseem who was sentenced for the honour killing.There’s no denying that Qandeel's parents had been under great financial pressure. After all, it was their daughter who had been supporting them (including the brother who went on to kill her ) all these years. And while the parents had received some help through crowd-funding initiatives, their reserves had clearly dwindled over time. There was also a fair amount of societal pressure given the media attention the case got. While the father (who is now deceased) retracted his accusation against Aslam, stating that he no longer believed that the brother had instigated Waseem to commit the murder, he was quite vehement that Waseem and Haq Nawaz need to be punished for the crime. With his death, the pressures on the mother increased manifold. The Pakistani state (as complainant) after the initial media frenzy also took a backseat and did not pursue the proceedings as it should have.With the mother now retracting her complaint, and the murder no longer considered a case of honour killing, one is left questioning how the courts will want to see Qandeel's murder now that there is no murderer on their books. Needless to say, the court’s recent decision has left the country fuming. There are many who are perplexed by the wording of the judgement that refers to Qandeel as a celebrity and humanises her killer Waseem, mentioning that justice had not been done by him.Sanam Maher, who has written the acclaimed A Woman Like Her: The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch, took to social media to express her disappointment.“In a society that takes great pleasure in the punishment of women who break the rules, it should come as no surprise that each suspect in this case has been acquitted. After today's verdict, we may ask, who killed her? Nobody, it seems. In accepting that answer, we are all complicit in the crime of failing to protect women.” medium nocaption89688877Naya kanoonIn 2016, the Parliament (when Nawaz Sharif was PM) unanimously passed a legislation amending the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 — Act XLV of 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 Act V of 1898 — in order to deter and prevent offences in the name or pretext of honour. The amendments introduced limitations on the waiver of qiṣāṣ (pardon) available to the perpetrators of qatl-i-amd (intentional homicide), consistent with traditional Islamic criminal law principles. Specifically, the new law introduced ta‘zīr — discretionary judicial punishment — for an offender guilty of fasad-fil-arz (spreading mischief on earth), particularly if the offence is committed in the name or pretext of honour. Under the new law, a court can punish such an offender with imprisonment for life after considering “the facts and circumstances of the case”. It is this caveat, of a judge using his or her discretion, which has proven problematic now. Then too, Maher — like others who had closely monitored Qandeel’s case — had expressed her fears over the legislation, which was winning kudos for the government as being a “game changer”, for being at best as a “lip service by the government to the cause of women’s rights” in the build up to the election year.Waseem’s acquittal is not just about a matter of lament on social media. Nilofer Bakhtiar, chairperson, national commission on the status of women, Pakistan, shares how her phone has not stopped ringing with Pakistani women sharing their grief and anger with her. "آج کا جو قانون ہے اُس کے تحت این سی ایس ڈبلیو اس کیس کو اعلی عدالت میں تعاقب کرے گا۔۔۔" نیلوفر بختیار#AajNews… https://t.co/24tcPn4Bar— Aaj News (@aaj_urdu) 1645034480000Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s information minister, has also gone on record to share that his government will challenge the Lahore high court verdict in the Qandeel Baloch murder case before the Supreme Court. In an interview he urged the apex court to take notice of how Qandeel Baloch's murderer was acquitted as according to him there are hundreds of such SC rulings that those convicted of honour killing cannot be pardoned.There are also fears that this judgment will have repurcussions on another high profile murder case that is being heard in the courts presently — that of Noor Mukaddam, who was held hostage and beheaded in July 2021. Her murderer, Zahir Jaffar, though having admitted to his guilt, has gone back on his confession, claiming that he has been implicated . On hearing the news of Qandeel’s murderer’s aquittal, Noor’s friend, the actor-director Osman Khalid Butt says: “Six years — and an anti-honour killing bill later — we're back to square one. This is not the first time sentences for heinous crimes have been reduced or overturned. Why do these loopholes still exist in our judicial system whereby murderers can eventually walk free?”Two days later, his (and Pakistani women’s) worst fears came true when Zahir Jaffer’s counsel hinted that Zahir and Noor were in fact in a consensual live-in relationship. Her family members might have reached Jaffer's home furious, but the “frayed emotions could overwhelm anyone and it could be a matter of honour.” The days have just turned much darker for Pakistani women.Untitled Carousel 89158969