Who was Rabia Ahsan, the Pakistani TV anchor found shot dead at home?

Pakistani television journalist Rabia Ahsan was found dead at her home in Gulshanabad, Rawalpindi, on Sunday (X/ Rabia Ahsan, AI Enhanced)

Pakistani television journalist Rabia Ahsan was found shot dead at her home in Gulshanabad, Rawalpindi, on Sunday. A local court on Monday remanded her husband, Ahsan Tahir, to police custody for questioning, Dawn reported.

Police registered a murder case on a complaint from Ahsan’s brother, Khurram Ahmed. However, on Monday, Ahmed told Pakistan’s ARY News that he was withdrawing his complaint and said he believed the shooting had been accidental. Police said the investigation is still ongoing, and police is yet to publicly establish how the gun was fired.

Who was Rabia Ahsan?

Ahsan, 41, hosted Muqabil, a current affairs programme on the Urdu-language broadcaster 92 News HD.

She presented the show with journalist Amir Mateen and had also worked on air with journalist Rauf Klasra. In a tribute on X, Mateen said he and Ahsan had worked together for at least five years.

The journalist is survived by two daughters.

What happened at her Rawalpindi home?

Khurram Ahmed told police that another of his sisters heard a gunshot from the bedroom and rushed inside, Pakistan’s HUM English reported, citing the first information report (FIR). She told him she found Rabia on the floor and saw Rabia’s husband, Ahsan Tahir, holding a pistol. The FIR also says forensic investigators recovered a pistol and a spent cartridge case from the scene.

What has the court ordered?

Police registered the case under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with murder, and invoked a provision of the provincial arms law. Magistrate Talat Waheed granted police custody of Tahir and directed investigators to bring him back to court when the remand ends, Dawn reported.

Ahsan’s funeral prayers were held in Rawalpindi on Monday. Pakistan’s First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari condemned the killing and called for an impartial investigation, according to a statement from the presidency.

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