‘Pakistani Kim Kardashian’ Allegedly Murdered by Brother in Honor Killing (UPDATE)

Qandeel Baloch, known as the Pakistani Kim Kardashian, was allegedly murdered by her brother in an honor killing.

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UPDATE (7/17/16): The brother of Pakistani Model Qandeel Baloch has confessed to strangling his sister for "family honor" due to her "shameful" Facebook pictures, The Chicago Tribunereports

See original story from 7/16/16 below. 

Officials in Pakistan’s Punjab province confirmed Saturday the murder of 26-year-old Qandeel Baloch, a controversial Pakistani internet celebrity, in an apparent honor killing by her brother.

According to a report by Reuters, Baloch's brother allegedly murdered her in her family’s home on the outskirts of Multan in Punjab, the most populated of Pakistan’s four provinces. Azhar Akreem, Multan’s chief police officer, told CNN Baloch’s brother Waseem disapproved of the “kind of pictures she had been posting online.”

Baloch gained notoriety by uploading bold music videos and photos of herself on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and was a vocal advocate against misogyny and arranged marriages. Her provocative posts drew ire from conservative commenters online, who believed her actions disgraced the country.

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In a July 4 post on her official Facebook page, Baloch said her posts aimed to “change the typical orthodox mindset of people who don't wanna come out of their shells of false beliefs and old practices.”

“Thank [you] my believers and supporters for understanding the message i try to convey through my bold posts and videos. It's time to bring a change because the world is changing. let's open our minds and live in present,” she wrote.

Her murder comes four months after Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission published a report showing that honor killings are on the rise in Pakistan. About 1,000 women were killed in honor-related attacks in 2014, up from 869 in 2013.

Protests rocked Punjab in February after the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a measure to combat violence against women, dubbed the the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2015. The bill would create a number of resources to allow women to more easily and safely report instances of domestic and sexual violence, psychological abuse, cyberbullying and stalking, as well as implement district-level women’s protection committees comprised of law enforcement officers and social workers.

The law, which calls for the development of these institutions in “phases,” has not yet been implemented, according to a report from the BBC.

A spokesperson from the Multan police department did not immediately return a request for comment.

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