Journalist Shan Dahar. Photo: Courtesy — ifex
The Larkana police on Thursday arrested an absconding 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 spokesperson said the suspect, Irfan Brohi, was arrested in a raid near Darra junction by Badah station house officer Abdul Ghafoor Chutto.
However, Chutto said Brohi’s lawyer appeared and filed an interim bail application, following which he was released.
He added that the court would confirm the interim bail or reject it at the next hearing. The decision will depend on the victim’s family: if they challenge the bail application, the court could reject it.
Read: Truth Denied: How Pakistani Authorities Built an Unsolvable Case
Dahar worked for an Urdu news channel and was shot dead on the eve of January 1, 2014, in Badah’s Larkana town, in front of a medical warehouse located on the premises of a health centre.
He was reportedly investigating a story about the illegal resale of donated medicines and was left unattended at a Larkana hospital for more than nine hours and died later that day.
The police registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act for the first time. But they later claimed he was hit by a stray bullet during the New Year’s Eve celebration shootout. However, on his deathbed at Larkana’s Chandka Medical College Hospital, the journalist blamed the attack on an influential person from the Zehri tribe.
One of the accused, Nasrullah Tunio, was acquitted in 2018 due to lack of evidence, while Brohi and his brother Aamir were declared fugitives and remained at large until the recent arrest. Police claimed that Brohi was still on the run since 2014.
Dahar was survived by his wife and two daughters.
Welcoming the development, Safe Journalism called for a thorough, independent and impartial new investigation into the case, as well as the arrest of the second fugitive suspect, Aamir.
The organization said the arrest presented a “rare and significant opportunity” to advance accountability in cases of violence against journalists in Pakistan.
Read also: Report on journalist’s murder revealed
The development comes weeks after Safe Journalism published an investigative report that pointed to procedural flaws, omissions and inconsistencies in the police investigation. He also claimed that the suspects had remained at large in Larkana for years after the murder.
Presenting the report, Sindh Minister of Labour, Human Resources and Social Protection, Saeed Ghani, assured, on behalf of the prime minister, that the provincial government would take steps to help resolve the case. Periodismo Seguro said Brohi’s arrest represented a “first step toward fulfilling that commitment.”
