Pakistan leaders: No more pardons for honour killings

  • 21/07/2016
Qandeel Baloch (Instagram)
Qandeel Baloch (Instagram)

Pakistan's ruling party plans to pass long-delayed legislation against "honour killings" within weeks in the wake of the murder of a high-profile social media star.

The brother of Instagram queen Qandeel Baloch, sometimes described as Pakistan's Kim Kardashian, has been arrested in connection with her strangling death and told a news conference he was incensed by her often risqué posts on social media.

The bill will go before a parliamentary committee as early as Thursday, said Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and an increasingly influential member of her father's ruling party.

The government has faced mounting pressure to pass the law against murders carried out by people professing to be acting in defence of the honour of their family.

The law would remove a loophole that allows other family members to pardon a killer.

Reuters