Pakistan, Nov. 9 -- Television anchorperson Rabia Ahsan was found dead with a gunshot wound inside her Rawalpindi home on Sunday, having presented her programme only the previous evening. The 41-year-old journalist leaves behind two daughters, a grieving family and questions that demand far more than the customary assurances of an impartial investigation. Her husband has been taken into custody, and police have recovered a firearm from the bedroom. His reported explanation that the weapon discharged accidentally must be examined against the forensic evidence. Conflicting preliminary accounts of the location of the gunshot wound make the post-mortem findings all the more important.

Pakistan has witnessed far too many deaths of women initi...