'Disturbing Pattern': Pakistan's First Lady Demands Answers After TV Anchor Rabia Ahsan Is Shot Dead

Pakistani television anchor Rabia Ahsan was shot dead at her home in Rawalpindi on Sunday, 8 November. First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari called for a thorough and impartial investigation as police examined the case and questioned Ahsan's arrested husband.

Ahsan, 41, was found at her home in Gulshanabad with a gunshot wound below her neck, City Police Officer Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera said. Her mother and sister heard a shot. According to the first information report (FIR), her sister entered the bedroom and found Ahsan on the floor, with her husband holding a pistol.

Murder Case and Conflicting Accounts

Police registered a case at Saddar Bairooni police station under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and a provision of the Punjab Arms Amendment Ordinance 2015.

The FIR accuses Ahsan's husband, identified in some reports as Ahsan Tahir Khan, of shooting her. Police said he could not produce a licence for the .30-bore pistol recovered at the scene.

Accounts of the shooting differ. Police initially said a domestic worker told them the husband claimed the gun had discharged accidentally.

ARY News later reported the worker's account that the pistol was found among clothes before Tahir picked it up and a shot was fired. HUM News subsequently cited police sources as saying Tahir told investigators he had pointed the pistol at Ahsan as a joke and it discharged.

The FIR describes two wounds, one below the throat and another on the back. ARY News reported that the post-mortem identified a bullet wound to the lower neck. Police said forensic reports were awaited. Investigators are expected to consider those findings alongside the differing accounts as they establish how the weapon was fired.

Reports on the remand order also differed. Dawn reported that the suspect was remanded in physical custody for one day on 9 November. Pakistan Today cited his lawyer as saying the remand was for two days, while ARY News reported a four-day remand on 10 November.

First Lady Cites 'Disturbing Pattern'

Bhutto-Zardari expressed sadness and called for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation. Her statement on 8 November referred to Hina Javed, who was found dead at her Rawalpindi home in August, and said the outcome of that investigation was still awaited.

A Punjab investigation team later said forensic evidence implicated Javed's domestic worker and ruled out her husband. However, DNA reporting by Dawn on 16 October said samples from both the worker and Javed's husband matched material collected at the scene.

A mixed DNA profile could not exclude several people as contributors. The findings do not establish criminal responsibility, and Javed's family disputed the investigation team's conclusions. No connection between the two deaths has been established.

Family Accounts and Ahsan's Work

Reports also differed over whether Ahsan's family would pursue the complaint. The Express Tribune reported on 10 November that her brother, Khurram Ahmed, denied deciding to withdraw it and wanted investigators to establish what happened.

HUM News separately quoted her sister Alveena as saying the family had no intention of pursuing a case while coping with the trauma of Ahsan's death. Police said any proposed compromise would be for the trial court to consider.

Ahsan was an anchor at 92 News HD and hosted its current-affairs programme, Muqabil. On the day she died, she published a YouTube video discussing the US midterm elections.