Qandeel Baloch murder: Mufti Qavi's nexus with other suspects revealed

MULTAN: Mufti Abdul Qavi, a key suspect in Qandeel Baloch murder, has admitted that the car used by her killers and the house where the model lived in Multan’s Muzaffarabad area were of his relatives.

This is the first time since the killing of social media celebrity, that the nexus between the suspects and role of Mufti Qavi has been revealed.

According to police investigations, the man who owned the car and drove the killers to Multan and back to DG Khan was Qavi's cousin, Abdul Basit, who is currently on bail.

Also the house, where she resided was owned by another close relative of Qavi, Mohammad Nawaz.

Nawaz, as per the police record, was the man who influenced Qandeel's parents for a deal.

Mufti Qavi was arrested on October 18 after his bail was rejected by the court. Today, the court sent him to jail on judicial remand.

Judicial Magistrate Pervez Khan Wednesday sent cleric Mufti Abdul Qavi to judicial jail under high police protection after dismissing police request for grant of more physical remand.

Mufti Qavi’s Counsel Syed Khurram Shahzad told The News that police had failed to produce a single recovery from the cleric. He said Mufti Qavi had voluntarily submitted his all-mobile sets with police voluntarily a year before. However, police had failed to recover any item from the accused other than mobile sets, which voluntarily submitted by Mufti Qavi with police more than a year before while Mufti Qavi had spent 13 days in his physical remand in police custody.

AFP adds

The shocking murder the social media star by her brother last July turned the spotlight on an epidemic of so-called honour killings and sparked a fresh push to close loopholes allowing the killers to walk free.

Qandeel Baloch achieved notoriety in Pakistan with her social media antics, tame by Western standards but considered provocative in a misogynistic country where women have fought for their rights for decades.

Her brother Waseem told reporters that "of course" he had strangled his sister, finding her behaviour "intolerable".

At first, her heartbroken parents vowed they would give Waseem no absolution.

But well over a year later, the trial is still grinding its way through the courts.

This length of time is not unheard of for Pakistani murder cases, but it has been long enough -- as often happens -- for Qandeel’s father to change his mind.

"I want my son to return home," Mohammad Azeem told AFP recently, dismissing Waseem´s proud statements. "My son is innocent."

Had international revulsion over the killing not seen the Pakistani state take the unprecedented step of declaring itself an heir alongside her parents, their forgiveness could have already seen Waseem walk free.