- WEB DESK
- November 9, 2026
Rabia Ahsan’s family to withdraw case against husband, calls killing ‘110 pc accidental’
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- Ali Hamza
- November 9, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The family of anchorperson Rabia Ahsan, who was found shot dead in her bedroom on Adiala Road in Rawalpindi on Sunday, is seeking to withdraw the murder case against her husband, Ahsan Tahir Khan, who was taken into custody following the incident, her sister said on Monday, describing the death as “110 per cent accidental”.
Rabia’s sister, Alveena, told Hum News that the family was “in the process of withdrawing the case”.
Earlier, police registered a murder case against the husband, a day after Rabia was found shot dead inside her home in Rawalpindi’s Gulshanabad area.
“I don’t even feel that we have filed any case,” she said. “We don’t have any intention of pursuing a case either.”
“Our family is in huge trauma right now. Let us come out of the trauma, and then we will give you the full account,” Alveena said.
She also criticised the media’s coverage of the killing. “The media has not treated us well. The media is playing very wrong games,” she said. “Out of sympathy, they get us to say one thing and then present it in a different way.”
The husband, Ahsan Tahir, has told investigators that he pointed the locally made pistol at Rabia as a joke and loaded the chamber, and that a bullet was discharged without the trigger being pressed, hitting her in the neck, according to police sources. A domestic servant was also in the room at the time, the sources said. They added that there had been no quarrel between the couple.
Case cannot simply be withdrawn
Sources privy to the investigation said police had not received any information from the family about withdrawing the case. The FIR was registered in accordance with the law, they said, adding that police had no power to withdraw it and any move by the family would have to go through the court.
Earlier on Monday, a Rawalpindi court sent Ahsan Tahir on one-day physical remand.
Police will submit the challan to the court, the sources said, adding that the case for possessing an illegal weapon would be pursued even if the family forgave the accused.
Under Pakistani law, a complainant cannot simply take back a registered FIR. Murder under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code can be compounded: during the trial, the victim’s legal heirs may forgive the accused with the court’s permission. The weapons charge is a separate offence prosecuted by the state.
Usman Gul, a Supreme Court lawyer who practises criminal law, told Hum News that when an unlicensed weapon is used, the case legally falls under Section 302 and cannot be treated as “qatl-bil-khata”, or killing by mistake, under Sections 319 and 320.
What the FIR says
The case (FIR No 1231/26) was registered at Saddar Bairooni police station under Section 302 of the PPC and Section 13-2(a) of the Punjab Arms (Amendment) Ordinance 2015, which deals with possessing an unlicensed weapon.
The complainant is Rabia’s brother, Khurram Ahmad. According to the FIR, Khurram, a Capital Development Authority (CDA) employee who lives in Islamabad, was on his way to visit Rabia when their sister Alveena phoned him.
Alveena lives with their mother near Rabia’s house in Gulshanabad, off Adiala Road. She told him that at about 2:30pm, she and their mother were sitting in the lawn while Rabia and her husband were in their bedroom when they heard a gunshot. They ran inside and found Rabia lying in a pool of blood on the floor beside the bed, with a pistol in Ahsan’s hand, the FIR states.
“Ahsan has killed my sister by shooting her,” Khurram alleged in the complaint, asking for legal action.
The police section of the FIR records two blood-stained wounds: one at the front, below the throat, and the other on the right side of the back. A Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) crime scene unit collected evidence, and the body was sent to Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) for a post-mortem. Police recovered a 30-bore pistol from Ahsan Tahir, who could not produce a licence or permit for it, the FIR says.
Police obtained a one-day physical remand of Ahsan Tahir from a court on Monday, and he remains in police custody, according to sources. Earlier reports of a two-day remand were incorrect, the sources said.
Official reaction
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari, in a post on X, identified the victim as Rabiya Ahmad, 41, a journalist associated with 92 News, and said she had been found dead in her room with a gunshot wound to the head.
Bokhari wrote that the husband, whom she named as Ahsan Tahir Khan, claimed during initial interrogation that the firearm had discharged accidentally while he was playing with it. The FIR describes the wounds as being below the throat and on the back.
City Police Officer (CPO) Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera, who reached the scene with senior officers, said in a statement that the case would be investigated on merit.
First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, in a statement posted on the President of Pakistan’s X account, called for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the killing of “journalist Rabia Ahsan”.
The statement noted that less than three months ago, another professional woman, Hina Javed, was killed in the same metropolitan area, and that the outcome of the investigation into her case was still awaited. “Women must be able to live and work without fear for their lives,” it said.
The post-mortem report and forensic findings have not yet been made public.
