Prayers for murdered Pakistani social star

The brother of Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch has allegedly confessed to drugging and strangling her.

File image of Pakistani fashion model Qandeel Baloch

File image of Pakistani fashion model Qandeel Baloch Source: AAP

Funeral prayers have been offered in Dera Ghazi Khan city for Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch, after her brother confessed to drugging and strangling her.

Relatives of 26-year-old Baloch and local residents attended the funeral on Sunday, according to the Pakistan Today news site.

Baloch - who was known for posting daring photographs, videos and comments on social media in conservative Pakistan - was found dead in her family home in Punjab's Multan city on Saturday.

Her brother Wasim was later arrested.

He has since confessed to drugging his sister and killing her by suffocation, and said he was unrepentant, according to The Express Tribune newspaper.

"Qandeel was bringing dishonour to the Baloch people and I could not tolerate that," he said.

Baloch, who described herself as a "modern day feminist", had divided opinion in Pakistan with her promotion of female empowerment and choice of often non-traditional or revealing clothes.

In her final post on Facebook on July 4, she wrote, "I am trying to change the typical orthodox mindset of people who don't wanna come out of their shells of false beliefs and old practices".

Chairman of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto is among those to publicly condemn the killing.

Baloch "was a Pakistani woman and deserved the right to life. No ifs, no buts. Punjab government must hold murderer accountable," he wrote on Twitter.


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Published 17 July 2016 5:58pm
Source: AAP


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