Abb Takk Television
January 1, 2014, in Larkana, Pakistan

Dahar, a reporter for Abb Takk Television, was shot in the back while filming outside a pharmacy near the Badah Press Club in Larkana, according to his sister and brother-in-law who spoke to CPJ. He died shortly after at a local hospital.

Initial media reports suggested that Dahar was hit by a stray bullet as weapons were being fired into the air during New Year celebrations, but in the days that followed, journalists and local media support groups suggested this was an intentional killing.

Dahar's sister and brother-in-law told CPJ that they had seen the video that Dahar was recording at the time he was killed. The video shows medication Dahar bought at a pharmacy that had a "not for resale" stamp on it, they said. The journalist was killed a few minutes after that.

Shortly before his death, Dahar had broadcast a story on drug sales. At the time he was killed, he was working on a report about the unauthorized sale of pharmaceutical drugs in the area, according to Nasir Baig Chughtai, the director of news for Abb Takk. According to Dahar's family, medications allocated by a local NGO for the poor were being resold illegally. Chughtai told CPJ that Dahar had covered a range of stories on sensitive local issues, including politics and poverty, and had been killed in retaliation for his work.

Dahar's family as well as several local journalists expressed dismay at what they felt was negligence on the part of the medical staff at the hospital that treated Dahar, saying he would still be alive if he received timely and adequate medical care, according to news reports.

Chughtai told CPJ that although a suspect had been taken into custody, he believed the main culprits were still at large. Local journalists have raised concern about the way the investigation was carried out, according to news reports. Despite a postmortem report being released, police have not offered a conclusive motive in the journalist's death.

Medium: Television
Job: Broadcast Reporter
Beats Covered: Corruption, Crime, Politics
Gender: Male
Local or Foreign: Local
Freelance: No
Type of Death: Murder
Suspected Source of Fire: Criminal Group
Impunity: Yes
Taken Captive: No
Tortured: No
Threatened: No

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