The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday acquitted the prime suspect and brother of model Qandeel Baloch, Waseem Azeem, in her murder case, abolishing the life imprisonment awarded to him by a sessions court.
The LHC’s Multan bench cancelled life imprisonment of the accused after witnesses deviated from their statements in the trial court and Qandeel’s mother submitted a reconciliation agreement stipulating parental pardon.
In 2016, Muhammad Waseem was arrested after he confessed to killing Qandeel Baloch, 26, for posting what he called ‘scandalous’ pictures on social media. The case became Pakistan’s most high profile “honour killing” of recent years.
Actor Osman Khalid Butt tweeted, “Qandeel Baloch’s murderer walks free today after serving less than six years of his life sentence. He is on record admitting to drugging and murdering his sister. Someone please make this make sense to me.”
He went on to comment, “We are in the concluding stages of a high-profile and incredibly brutal murder case even now – how does this ruling inspire any confidence (except to the guilty) in our judicial system? Six years – and an anti-honour killing Bill – later, we’re back to square one.”
Osman concluded with, “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?”
Singer Meesha Shafi also spoke about Waseem’s acquittal. “So Qandeel Baloch killed in cold blood,” the popular singer tweeted, adding, “Her father, who tried to pursue justice above and beyond his means.. passed away. Her murderer, her brother, alive and roaming free once again. We’re living in the opposite world.”
During the hearing on Monday, defending lawyer Sardar Mehboob argued before LHC Justice Sohail Nasir that the father of the model and complainant had passed away, adding that the witnesses had also deviated from their statements in the trial court.
He said the sessions court had ignored the settlement reached between the parties. After hearing the arguments, the court acquitted Waseem by cancelling his life imprisonment. “He has been fully acquitted”, his lawyer Mehboob told AFP, without giving further details. The court order has yet to be made public.
