'Truth Denied': Reporting Pakistani authorities denial of justice in journalist Shan Dahar's murder

IBA-CEJ hosts screening of documentary pointing to the legal lacunae in journalist Zakir Hussain Dahar's murder

On January 1, 2014, journalist Zakir Hussain Dahar, known as Shan Dahar, was hit with a gunshot to his back in the town of Badah, Larkana district in Sindh. He had been leaning against the counter of a small medical store, caught up in a dispute between patients of a nearby Basic Health Centre (BHC) and the pharmacist, a little past midnight, when the bullet struck his upper back.

Dahar, then bureau chief at AbbTak News, happened to be in the narrow lane that night because he had been investigating the disruption in supply of medicines from a non-governmental organisation marked free-of-charge. Twelve years and blatant proceedural irregularities later, police maintain Dahar's killing was an accident, caused by a stray bullet fired from 60 metres away, yet another casualty of unabated celebatory aerial firing on New Year's Eve.

A report released by Safe Journalism at the Centre of Excellence in Journalism (CEJ), under a global initiative led by Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at IBA Karachi on Wednesday, shed light on the findings in the case, eyewitness accounts, postmortem report, family testimony and police investigation. The facts of both the case and the investigation do not add up.

Before he breathed his last at Chandka Hospital, Dahar accused the influential Zehri tribe of putting a target on his back. Amir Zehri, the prime accused in the case, was declared an absconder in the case, which was not probed as a "criminal" one for a good nine hours after the murder. His blood-ridden clothes were strewn on the floor, discarded by the police and a small handycam on his person at the time of death was retrieved by his sister. The killing happened near Badah Press Club. Journalists were outraged.

Read: In the line of fire: Another violence filled year for journalists in Pakistan

The police never recorded the statements of medical storekeeper Zulfikar Kokar and BHC watchman Munna Qadir, recalls senior investigative reporter Adil Jawad. Instead, the Sindh Police submitted 15 to 16 identical accounts of different investigative officers, when the police's performance was questioned.

An accompanying press release said that at least 98 journalists killed in Pakistan since 1992 have not yet recieved justice.

The report, titled, Truth Denied: How Pakistani Authorities Built an Unsolvable Case, documents procedural flaws, omissions and inconsistencies in Sindh Police's probe and the case's progress in the past 12 years. CEJ's findings support Dahar's family's and colleagues' allegations of complacency and possible wilful negligence by the investigating authorities.

Panellist Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed observed at the report's launch that Pakistan has a low conviction rate of approximately 16%. According to him, the effective rate should be around 70–80%, showing that the country takes investigations seriously, but also has space 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 of pursuing justice for slain journalists in Sindh. He stressed the need for convictions in cases involving serious human rights violations.

Read More: Journalism remains most perilous 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 that we must not forget them. If we don’t speak up for them, who will?" seconded fellow panelist and CEJ Director Shahzeb Jillani.

Earlier, in his keynote address, Sindh Minister Saeed Ghani appreciated the research behind the report. “If there are flaws in police investigations, we must identify them clearly. Only then can we begin to fix what’s broken,” Ghani said.

Except, the family notes, in the documentary released by FPU based on the findings on the report, that the Sindh government failed to deliver on its promises of not only ensuring justice but providing Dahar's daughters' education.

The murdered journalist's eldest daughter recalls that while she had once wanted to be a journalist like her father, the events that followed since his killing and the apparent probe convinced her to be lawyer instead.

Speaking at the launch, IBA faculty and senior journalist Shahzeb Ahmed noted that who we identify as a journalist needed to be questioned.

The first question when a journalist is attacked is often: is he even a journalist? In our eyes, it is anyone who is transmitting information. We can’t discriminate against someone sitting in a remote area like Barkhan, just because they never had the opportunity to join the mainstream media.”

According to CPJ, the unsolved murder of Dahar was a prime example of Pakistan’s systemic failure to investigate crimes against journalists. Their 18-month investigation used video and photographic evidence to prove the official narrative was "highly improbable" and uncovered that police used the case to extort individuals and coerce witnesses into giving false information.

The opening statements at IBA were followed by a video tribute to journalists who have been murdered in Pakistan since 1992, including Daniel Pearl, Saleem Shehzad, and Nasrullah Gadani.

The report concluded that the authorities had ignored a clear motive — Dahar’s investigation into the illegal reselling of donated medications. Despite filming the scheme just before he was shot and previously accusing the clinic's head — who was later suspended for medical negligence leading to Dahar's death — no official investigation into the doctor's involvement was conducted.

"If we look at Shan Dahar's case, we can see how that case was never resolved. Lack of evidence isn't the problem, and as we were saying earlier (in the panel discussion after the screening), this case can still be resolved. We're going to work with government authorities as well. The families of these journalists deserve closure," noted Safe Journalism Co-Founder Mehmal Sarfraz.