IBA-CEJ organizes the screening of a documentary that points out the legal loopholes in the murder of journalist Zakir Hussain Dahar
IBA faculty member and senior journalist Shahzeb Ahmed speaks at the screening of a documentary highlighting legal loopholes in the murder of journalist Zakir Hussain Dahar, during an event at CEJ-IBA on Wednesday. Photo: Express
On January 1, 2014, journalist Zakir Hussain Dahar, known as Shan Dahar, was shot in the back in Badah town, Larkana district in Sindh. He was leaning against the counter of a small medical store, involved in a dispute between patients at a nearby Basic Health Center (CBS) and the pharmacist, shortly after midnight, when the bullet hit him in the upper back.
Dahar, then head of the office of AbbTak NewsHe was on the narrow street that night because he was investigating the interruption of the supply of medicines from a non-governmental organization marked as free. Twelve years and glaring procedural irregularities later, police maintain that Dahar’s murder was an accident, caused by a stray bullet fired from 60 meters away, yet another casualty of the incessant celebratory aerial gunfire on New Year’s Eve.
A report released by Safe Journalism at the Center of Excellence in Journalism (CEJ), under a global initiative led by Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at IBA Karachi on Wednesday, shed light on the findings of the case, eyewitness accounts, post-mortem report, family testimony and police investigation. The facts of both the case and the investigation do not add up.
Before breathing his last at the Chandka hospital, Dahar accused the influential Zehri tribe of putting a target on his back. Amir Zehri, the main accused in the case, was declared a fugitive in the case, which was not investigated as “criminal” until nine hours after the murder. His blood-stained clothes were scattered on the floor, police discarded them, and his sister recovered a small handheld camera he had been carrying with him at the time of his death. The murder occurred near the Badah Press Club. The journalists were outraged.
Read: In the line of fire: another year full of violence for journalists in Pakistan
The police never recorded the statements of medical trader Zulfikar Kokar and BHC watchman Munna Qadir, recalls investigative journalist Adil Jawad. Instead, the Sindh police presented 15 to 16 identical accounts from different investigating officers when police action was questioned.
An accompanying press release said that at least 98 journalists killed in Pakistan since 1992 have yet to receive justice.
The report, titled Truth Denied: How Pakistani Authorities Built an Unsolvable Case documents procedural flaws, omissions and inconsistencies in the Sindh Police investigation and the progress of the case over the past 12 years. The CEJ’s findings support accusations of complacency and possible deliberate negligence by investigating authorities made by Dahar’s family and his colleagues.
Panelist Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed noted at the presentation of the report that Pakistan has a low conviction rate of approximately 16%. According to him, the effective rate should be around 70-80%, which shows that the country takes investigations seriously, but also has room to acquit the innocent.
“At every stage, we have faced local pressures, police shortcomings and judicial obstacles,” said human rights lawyer Salahuddin Panhwar, who has experience seeking justice for journalists killed in Sindh. He highlighted the need for convictions in cases involving serious human rights violations.
Read more: Journalism remains the most dangerous vocation in Sindh
“We, as a community, are also guilty of forgetting our colleagues who have died in the line of duty. Our first duty is not to forget them. If we do not speak on their behalf, who will?” Fellow panelist and CEJ director Shahzeb Jillani seconded him.
Earlier, in his keynote address, Sindh Minister Saeed Ghani appreciated the research behind the report. “If there are flaws in police investigations, we must clearly identify them. Only then can we begin to fix what is broken,” Ghani said.
Except, the family notes, in the documentary released by FPU based on the report’s findings, the Sindh government failed to fulfill its promises not only to ensure justice but also to provide education for Dahar’s daughters.
The eldest daughter of the murdered journalist remembers that, although she once wanted to be a journalist like her father, the events that followed since his murder and the apparent investigation convinced her to become a lawyer.
Speaking at the launch, IBA faculty and senior journalist Shahzeb Ahmed noted that there was a need to question who we identify as a journalist.
The first question when a journalist is attacked is usually: are they even a journalist? In our eyes, it is anyone who is transmitting information. We cannot discriminate against someone sitting in a remote area like Barkhan, just because he never had the opportunity to join the mainstream media.”
According to CPJ, Dahar’s unsolved murder was a prime example of Pakistan’s systemic failure to investigate crimes against journalists. Their 18-month investigation used video and photographic evidence to show the official narrative was “highly improbable” and found police used the case to extort people and force witnesses to give false information.
Opening remarks at the IBA were followed by a video tribute to journalists murdered in Pakistan since 1992, including Daniel Pearl, Saleem Shehzad and Nasrullah Gadani.
The report concluded that authorities had ignored a clear motive: Dahar’s investigation into the illegal resale of donated medications. Despite filming the plot just before he was shot and previously accusing the clinic’s director, who was later suspended, of medical negligence that led to Dahar’s death, no official investigation into the doctor’s involvement was carried out.
“If we look at the Shan Dahar case, we can see how that case was never solved. Lack of evidence is not the problem, and as we said before (in the panel discussion after the screening), this case can still be solved. We are going to work with government authorities as well. The families of these journalists deserve closure,” said Safe Journalism co-founder Mehmal Sarfraz.
