Pakistan’s ruling party plans to pass long-delayed legislation against “honor killings” within weeks in the wake of the high-profile murder of an outspoken social media star, the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday.
The bill will go before a parliamentary committee as early as Thursday, said Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who is 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 defense of the honor of their family.
The law would remove a loophole that allows other family members to pardon a killer.
The brother of social media star Qandeel Baloch, often 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.
Some 500 women are killed each year in Pakistan at the hands of family members over perceived damage to “honor” that can involve eloping, fraternizing with men or any other infraction against conservative values that govern women’s modesty.
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