ISLAMABAD: A new investigation, Truth Denied: How Pakistani Authorities Built an Unsolvable Case, reveals serious flaws in the investigation into the 2014 killing of Pakistani journalist Shan Dahar. Dahar was shot on January 1, 2014, while filming a report on medicine trafficking in Sindh province. Over 12 years later, his killers remain at large, highlighting the widespread impunity for crimes against journalists in Pakistan.
The investigation, led by Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), found that police misconduct, forced testimonies, and political inaction have prevented justice. Despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's 2025 promise to address journalist killings, the investigation found no real progress, with 35 journalists killed in Pakistan over the past decade, none of whose killers have been brought to justice.
The coalition urges the government to reopen the investigation into Dahar's murder, enforce the 2021 Journalists' Safety Act, and work with civil society to ensure accountability. RSF's Celia Mercier and CPJ's Beh Lih Yi emphasize that the continued impunity for such crimes reflects a lack of political will and failure to protect journalists. (IANS).
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