Journalist Shan Dahar. Photo: Courtesy — ifex
Larkana police on Thursday arrested a fugitive suspect in the murder case of journalist Zakir Hussain Dahar, popularly known as Shan Dahar, more than 12 years after the murder.
The district police spokesman said the suspect, Irfan Brohi, was nabbed in a raid near Darra crossing by Badah Station House Officer Abdul Ghafoor Chutto.
However, Chutto said Brohi’s lawyer appeared and filed an anticipatory bail application after which he was later released.
He added that the court would either confirm the interim bail or reject it at the next hearing. The decision will depend on the victim’s family – if they contest the bail application, the court may reject it.
Read: The Truth Denied: How Pakistani Authorities Built an Unsolvable Case
Dahar worked for an Urdu news channel and was shot dead on the evening of January 1, 2014 in the Badah city of Larkana outside a medical shop located on the premises of a health center.
He reportedly pursued a story of illegal resale of donated medicine and remained unattended at a hospital in Larkana for over nine hours and died later that day.
The police first filed a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act. But they later claimed he was hit by a stray bullet during festive firing on New Year’s Day. But on his deathbed at Chandka Medical College Hospital in Larkana, the journalist blamed an influential person from the Zehri tribe for the attack.
One of the accused, Nasrullah Tunio, was acquitted in 2018 due to lack of evidence, while Brohi and his brother Aamir were declared missing and remained at large until the recent arrest. The police claimed that Brohi had remained an absconder since 2014.
Dahar was survived by his wife and two daughters.
Safe Journalism welcomed the development and called for a thorough, independent and impartial re-investigation of the case as well as the arrest of the other fleeing suspect, Aamir.
The organization noted that the arrest represented a “rare and significant opportunity” to promote accountability in cases involving violence against journalists in Pakistan.
Also read: Report on journalist murder revealed
The development comes weeks after Safe Journalism published an investigative report pointing to procedural errors, omissions and inconsistencies in the police investigation. It also claimed that the suspects had been at large in Larkana for years after the killing.
At the launch of the report, Sindh Minister for Labour, Human Resources and Social Protection, Saeed Ghani, had assured on behalf of the chief minister that the provincial government would take steps to help resolve the matter. Safe Journalism said Brohi’s arrest represented a “first step in fulfilling this commitment”.
