Larkana police arrest absconding suspect in journalist Shan Dahar murder case after 12 years

Irfan Brohi arrested in Daro Phatak area of Larkana

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 killing.

The district's police spokesperson said that the suspect, Irfan Brohi, was rounded up in a raid near Darra crossing by Badah Station House Officer Abdul Ghafoor Chutto.

However, Chutto said that Brohi's lawyer appeared and submitted an interim bail application, following which he was later released.

He added that the court would either 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 town of Larkana outside a medical store located in the premises of a health facility.

He was reportedly pursuing a story on the illegal resale of donated medicines and remained unattended at a hospital in Larkana for over nine hours and died later the same day.

The police first registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act. But they later claimed that he was hit by a stray bullet during new year night celebratory firing. However, on his deathbed at Chandka Medical College Hospital in Larkana, the journalist blamed an influential person of the Zehri tribe for the attack.

One of the accused, Nasrullah Tunio, was acquitted in 2018 due to lack of evidence, while Brohi and his brother Aamir were declared absconders and remained at large until the recent arrest. The police claimed that Brohi had remained an absconder since 2014.

Dahar was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Welcoming the development, Safe Journalism called for a thorough, independent and impartial reinvestigation of the case, as well as the arrest of the second absconding suspect, Aamir.

The organisation noted that the arrest presented a "rare and significant opportunity" to advance accountability in cases involving violence against journalists in Pakistan.

Also Read: Report on journalist's murder unveiled

The development comes weeks after Safe Journalism released an investigative report pointing to procedural flaws, omissions and inconsistencies in the police investigation. It also claimed that the suspects had remained at large in Larkana for years following the killing.

At the report’s launch, Sindh Minister for Labour, Human Resources and Social Protection Saeed Ghani had assured, on behalf of the chief minister, that the provincial government would take steps to help resolve the case. Safe Journalism said that Brohi’s arrest represented a "first step in fulfilling that commitment".