A Pakistani television anchor spent her last night on air and her last hours posting a video about the U.S. midterm elections — and then a single shot sounded from her bedroom.
Police are investigating Ahsan Tahir, a deputy director at the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, in the killing of his wife, 92 News anchor and program host Rabia Ahsan, 41, who was shot dead in the bedroom of the couple’s home in Gulshanabad Sector II, on Adiala Road in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026.
Officers told a Rawalpindi court that Tahir, in a statement under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, acknowledged the shooting but maintained it was accidental rather than intentional.
Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Nasrullah Wattoo extended Tahir’s physical remand by four days on Tuesday, Nov. 10, keeping him in police custody and handing him to Saddar Beruni police for further investigation. Investigators had asked for seven days. The same court granted a one-day physical remand on Monday, Nov. 9, and Wattoo has ordered Tahir produced again Nov. 13, along with a detailed investigation report and the post-mortem report.
The Video She Posted Hours Earlier
Rabia Ahsan hosted the current affairs program “Muqabil” and worked alongside senior journalists including Amir Mateen and Rauf Klasra. She also ran a private salon in Islamabad. Two daughters survive her.
Her last program on a mainstream television channel aired the night before she was killed. She posted a video on YouTube hours before her death, a roughly 10-minute piece on the U.S. midterm elections titled “Regime Change in America: Trump Could Not Deliver, U.S. Has Changed.” Her death set off an outpouring of grief among colleagues and across Pakistan’s journalist community.
Mateen, her former co-host, rejected reports that the marriage was free of discord, saying she had been a victim of domestic violence and had wanted a divorce. Mateen’s claims have not been independently verified.
A Shot Heard From the Lawn
Rabia Ahsan’s mother and one of her sisters were out on the lawn around 2:30 p.m. when the shot sounded from inside the bedroom, according to the first information report. Her sister Alwina ran in and found her on the floor in a pool of blood, with Tahir holding a pistol.
Alwina phoned their brother, Khurram Ahmed, who was traveling from Islamabad to the house. Khurram Ahmed accused Tahir of shooting his sister, and police registered the case on his complaint at Saddar Beruni Police Station under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 13(2)(a) of the Punjab Arms Amendment Ordinance.
The Pistol Fell From Winter Clothes
Tahir told investigators he was taking winter clothes for themselves and their children out of a cupboard when the pistol fell from the clothes and discharged, according to police sources. He expressed deep remorse in that account, said there was no premeditation or conspiracy to kill her, and claimed their daughters were at home and could corroborate him.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Zahid Bokhari said the husband, identified as Ahsan Tahir Khan, claimed he was playing with a firearm in the home when it accidentally discharged — a different account from the winter-clothes version police gave the court.
Tahir voluntarily handed the pistol to police and produced no license or permit for it. Officers took custody of a 30-bore pistol and bullets.
Rawalpindi police are preparing a polygraph test at a forensic laboratory in Lahore to verify his account that the pistol went off by accident, officers told the court, adding that the findings would be folded into the investigation report. A polygraph records physiological responses — heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and sweating — and cannot independently establish a statement true or false.
Investigators have also sought a forensic examination of whether the bullet that killed her came from the pistol recovered from her husband. Preliminary post-mortem findings confirmed a single gunshot wound below the neck, with the bullet exiting through her back, and examiners found no signs of physical violence on her body. Samples from the examination went to a forensic laboratory in Lahore, and police sent the pistol and a bullet casing for analysis to determine whether the recovered weapon was the one used.
Rawalpindi City Police Officer Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera went to the house with the senior superintendents of police for operations and investigations and a team of forensic experts. Teams from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency collected evidence from the scene.
A 15-year-old domestic worker at the house, hired around two weeks before the shooting, has been sent back to his home, police sources said. Some Pakistani outlets reported that the family planned to withdraw the murder case, calling the shooting accidental, but her brother Khurram Ahmed, who filed the complaint, denied that any decision had been made. “Our sister has been murdered. How can I forgive her unjust killing?” he said. A family cannot withdraw a murder case on its own, and the investigation has continued.
A “Disturbing Pattern” in the Same City
First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari condemned the killing in a statement issued by the Presidency, calling for an investigation that is thorough, impartial and transparent, one that establishes the facts and holds those responsible to account.
She raised concern over a “disturbing pattern of killing of another professional woman in the same metropolitan area,” Bhutto-Zardari said.
She was referring to the murder of Hina Javed, a digital media executive found dead at her Rawalpindi residence in August with signs of torture. Her husband and a domestic worker were reportedly arrested in connection with her killing.
