Senior DawnNewsTV journalist Khawar Husain Bajwa was found dead in his car with a gunshot wound to the head late on August 16 in Sindh’s Sanghar district. According to police, Bajwa was found in the driving seat of his vehicle parked outside a restaurant on Hyderabad Road, Sanghar, with a licensed 9mm pistol in his right hand and a single bullet wound on the right temple. CCTV footage showed that he was alone and entered the restaurant’s washroom before returning to his car, where staff later noticed him motionless inside.
According to Sanghar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abid Baloch, a security guard on duty said Husain arrived about 45 minutes after his shift began, used the washroom, and then sat in his vehicle without placing any order. When the guard noticed something unusual, he alerted the restaurant staff. Two waiters checked the car and found Husain motionless inside, with blood oozing from his temple and a 9mm pistol in his right hand.
SSP Baloch confirmed while speaking to the media that a single spent casing was recovered from the vehicle and that the case is being investigated from “all possible angles.” A postmortem was conducted at Civil Hospital Sanghar on August 17, while a second autopsy was carried out on August 19 at Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad by a team of three doctors, including forensic experts, who collected viscera samples for further examination. Initial findings confirmed no torture marks on the body; the final cause of death awaits forensic reports.
On August 18, Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon constituted a fact-finding committee led by Additional IGP Counter-Terrorism Department Azad Khan, with DIG West Irfan Baloch and SSP Sanghar as members. The panel is tasked to complete its preliminary investigation within two days. In parallel, the Sindh Home Department has been requested to form a special medical board of senior doctors and forensic experts to ensure a “fair, transparent, and impartial postmortem examination.”
The committee has also recovered Bajwa’s mobile phone from the car, which investigators said had been reset and was without a password. The pistol, bullets, and SIM card retrieved from the vehicle have been sent for forensic testing.
Bajwa’s family has categorically rejected the suggestion of suicide. His father, Rehmat Hussain Bajwa, and elder brother, Aijaz Hussain Bajwa, told police and journalists that Khawar had no personal or financial distress and insisted he was murdered. His sister confirmed that he had celebrated Eidul Azha with her in Karachi and had not informed friends or family in Sanghar about his sudden visit.
The Sanghar Press Club declared a three-day mourning period starting August 18. It hoisted a black flag, while the Karachi Press Club and Karachi Union of Journalists (Dastoor) demanded an independent probe, condemning what they termed “premature assumptions” of suicide.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Governor Kamran Tessori expressed sorrow and directed police to submit a detailed report. Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called Bajwa’s death a “significant loss to journalism,” while provincial ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon and Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar described it as “irreparable” and sought reports from police.
The Sindh Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Other Media Practitioners (SCPJMP) has also taken notice, seeking a detailed police report on the incident.
