The Sensational Life And Death Of Qandeel Baloch

‘Qandeel was a marvelous blaze. She set our dark world on fire and made enough light to expose the hypocrisies of Pakistan’s pious patriarchy. In Sanam Maher’s terrific and necessary book those flames burn brighter than ever.’ —Bilal Tanweer ‘A powerful and deeply moving account from an important new voice in non-fiction.’ —Sonia Faleiro Bold’ ‘Shameless’ ‘Siren’ were just some of the (kinder) words used to describe Qandeel Baloch. She embraced these labels and played the coquette yet dished out biting critiques of some of Pakistan’s most holy cows. Pakistanis snickered at her fake American accent but marveled at her gumption. She was the stuff of a hundred memes and Pakistan’s first celebrity-by-social media. Qandeel first captured the nation’s attention on Pakistan Idol with a failed audition and tearful outburst. But it was in February 2016 when she uploaded a Facebook video mocking a presidential ‘warning’ not to celebrate Valentine’s Day that she went ‘viral’. In the video which racked up nearly a million views she lies in bed in a low-cut red dress and says in broken English ‘They can stop to people go out…but they can’t stop to people love.’ The video shows us everything that Pakistanis loved—and loved to hate—about Qandeel ‘Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian’. Five months later she would be dead. In July 2016 Qandeel’s brother would strangle her in their family home in what was described as an ‘honour killing’—a punishment for the ‘shame’ her online behavior had brought to the family. Scores of young women and men are killed in the name of honour every year in Pakistan. Many cases are never reported and of the ones that are murderers are often ‘forgiven’ by the surviving family members and do not face charges. However just six days after Qandeel’s death the Anti-Honour Killings Laws Bill was fast-tracked in parliament and in October 2016 the loophole allowing families to pardon perpetrators of ‘honour killings’ was closed. What spurred the change? Was it the murder of Qandeel Baloch? And how did she come to represent the clash between rigid conservatism and a secular liberal vision for Pakistan? Through dozens of interviews—with aspiring models managers university students activists lawyers police officers and journalists among them—Sanam Maher gives us a portrait of a woman and a nation.