Pakistani television anchor Rabia Ahsan was shot dead at her home in Rawalpindi on Sunday, in a killing that has prompted condemnation from the country’s president and renewed attention on violence against women in Pakistan’s media.
Ahsan, 41, an anchor and programme host with the private channel 92 News, was found in the bedroom of her house in the Gulshanabad area, on Adiala Road, at about 3pm on Sunday. Police said she had been shot in the lower neck; a preliminary post-mortem found the bullet entered from the front. Some reports of the first information report put the number of wounds at two.
Her husband, Ahsan Tahir Khan, a deputy director at the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, was in the house at the time and was taken into custody. Police recovered a .30-bore pistol and ammunition from the home, and forensic teams from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency examined the scene. Police later said the pistol was unlicensed.
A murder case was registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Punjab Arms Amendment Ordinance, on the complaint of Ahsan’s brother, Khurram Ahmed. The complaint alleged that her husband had shot her. Her sister found her lying on the floor after hearing the shot, according to the complaint, with her husband holding a pistol.
What exactly happened remains disputed, and the case took a new turn on Monday. Ahsan’s brother told reporters that he had withdrawn the murder complaint, describing the shooting as an accident and saying there had been no intention to kill his sister. Police confirmed the withdrawal and said they were now examining the case from the perspective of an accidental firing.
That account matches what a domestic worker at the house told police: that Khan said the gun had gone off by accident, and that he had been waving the pistol in his hand when it discharged. Police said no evidence of an argument or confrontation between the couple immediately before the shooting had emerged, and that the couple had been married for 14 years.
Other Pakistani outlets have separately reported, citing preliminary police questioning, that Khan confessed to the killing. That claim conflicts with the accidental-discharge account and has not been confirmed in court. The investigation is at an early stage, and Khan has not been convicted of anything.
On Monday, a Rawalpindi court granted police a two-day physical remand of Khan, allowing officers to hold and question him before he is brought back before a magistrate. Police said the final course of action would depend on forensic laboratory reports.
Ahsan co-hosted the current affairs programme Muqabil on 92 News alongside senior journalists Amir Mateen and Rauf Klasra. She was a mother of two daughters.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the killing and called for a transparent investigation, and First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari also pressed for a full inquiry.
Sources: Dawn, Abb Takk, Asian News Hub.
