A female journalist and television anchorperson was shot dead at her home in Rawalpindi on Sunday, in a case that has left the country’s media community in shock and police searching for answers.
Rabia Ahsan, a programme host associated with the private television channel 92 News, was found dead at her residence in Gulshanabad, on Adiala Road in Rawalpindi. According to police, her body was recovered from the bedroom of the house, with a single bullet wound below the neck.
Rawalpindi City Police Officer Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera confirmed the incident while speaking to the media in Gulshanabad. He said police had launched an investigation and recovered the weapon allegedly used in the incident from the crime scene. A team from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency also visited the residence to collect evidence.
Police have taken her husband, Ahsan, into custody in connection with the case, and a formal case was being registered, the CPO said. According to police sources, Ahsan is a Grade-18 government employee working at the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation.
Her husband told investigators in his initial statement that the gun had gone off accidentally and that he had not fired it intentionally, according to police sources. Police have not publicly confirmed that account, and the investigation is continuing to determine the exact circumstances of the shooting.
Rabia Ahsan hosted the current affairs programme Muqabil on 92 News and had also worked as a host on a programme of senior journalist Ameer Mateen. Reports said she had hosted her final programme the night before her death, a detail that made the news harder to absorb for colleagues and viewers who had seen her on screen only hours earlier.
The couple had married of their own choice and had two daughters. Alongside her television work, Rabia Ahsan also ran a beauty salon in Islamabad, building a professional life that stretched well beyond the newsroom.
Her body was being shifted to hospital for a post-mortem examination, police said, while forensic teams continued to collect evidence from the house. Police said further investigation was under way and no final determination on the cause of death or responsibility had been announced.
The killing of a woman journalist inside her own home has raised painful questions about domestic safety and the protection of women, and about how such cases are investigated when the first account offered is that of an accident. For now, the answers rest with the investigation, the forensic evidence and the statements police are recording from those who were at the residence.
