Parents vow ‘no pardon’ for son who killed Qandeel Baloch

ISLAMABAD: The father of murdered Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch has vowed no forgiveness for his son, who killed his daughter on the pretext of "honour".

Pakistan last week passed long-awaited legislation aimed at closing loopholes which allowed murderers like Baloch´s brother Waseem to walk free, with hundreds of women killed in defence of the family "honour" in the country each year.

Rights activists, who for years called for tougher laws to tackle violence against women, have praised the move as a step forward though lawyers criticised the amendments for not going far enough.

"There is no pardon from our side," Baloch´s father Muhammad Azeem told AFP this weekend, calling for his son and the three men accused with him to be punished "at the earliest. They should get life imprisonment or death -- I will feel happy."

He and his wife, Baloch´s mother Anwar Mai, said they had been unaware of the change in the law, which came three months after their daughter´s death.

Their son, Mai said, had not understood the repercussions the murder would have.

"I am not embarrassed at all over what I did," Qandeel’s brother told media at a defiant press conference in July, calling his sister´s behaviour "intolerable".

His mother said this weekend that he had thought his parents would become the only complainants in the case, which under previous legislation would have allowed him to escape punishment if his family had forgiven him.

Waseem thought he would be imprisoned for just "two to three months and then after he will be free, he was not aware that this would become a high-profile case," Mai told AFP.