Tahir Dawar

Education and career Tahir completed his secondary education in 1982 in Eidak, a village west of Mirali on the periphery of Miramshah, the capital city of North Waziristan. He did his higher secondary education (FA) in 1984.

Federal Investigation Agency In March 2009, Tahir was transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), a border control and counterintelligence security agency in Pakistan. He worked at FIA as an assistant director in Peshawar. He was also sent to Australia and Romania as part of his duty.

Political views Tahir had sympathy for the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).

In an old video which went viral on social media after his death, Tahir was seen addressing a group protesters, and arguing that India, the United States, and Afghanistan were behind many conspiracies against Pakistan in general and Peshawar in particular. He said that the Indian intelligence agency RAW, the US CIA, and Afghanistan posed threats to Pakistan, and that the focus of their activities was to target the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Abduction and murder On 26 October 2018, Tahir was abducted from Islamabad, Pakistan, where he had arrived the same day from Peshawar to attend a meeting. The police officials investigating the kidnapping case informed that Tahir had dinner on 26 October at his residence in Islamabad, then he went out alone on foot at around 7pm, and his mobile phone was found to be switched off from around 8pm. in the Dur Baba District of the province of Nangarhar, Afghanistan. He was buried the same day at a cemetery in the Momand Dara area in Nangarhar, On 14 November, Tahir's body was exhumed from the cemetery in Momand Dara, and carried to Jalalabad on the order of Hayatullah Hayat, Governor of Nangarhar. On 15 November, the body was received at the Torkham . Pakistan's State Minister of Interior Shehryar Afridi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai were also present at the jirga in Torkham. The same day, separate Islamic funeral prayers were reperformed for Tahir at Police lines. Shehryar Afridi also complained that at least 600 of the 1800 surveillance cameras installed under the Safe City Project in Islamabad were not working and that not one camera could read a vehicle's number plate or a person's face. In a Pashto note handwritten on a blank piece of paper, which was reportedly placed on the chest of the dead body of Tahir, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) claimed responsibility of the murder. However, there was no official claim of responsibility from Amaq Agency, the news outlet linked to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Some political analysts, journalists, and activists have questioned the authenticity of the handwritten note found besides the body, arguing that ISIL makes its official claims through Amaq Agency, not in this manner. Calling for an international commission to investigate the murder case rather than investigating it internally, Mohsin Dawar said: "We reject an internal inquiry. We know that our investigation authorities can’t question certain powers."

Investigation On 16 November 2018, a seven-member joint investigation team was formed to probe the murder. The team was headed by the Superintendent of Police Investigation in Islamabad, while the other members were the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) at Islamabad Shalimar Circle, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), the investigating officer of the case, and one representative each from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Military Intelligence (MI), and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the three Pakistani intelligence agencies.

Nadia Tahir, daughter of Tahir Dawar, said in October 2019 that the team made no tangible progress in investigating the murder. Ahmaduddin, brother of Tahir Dawar, said "the joint investigation team called several friends of Tahir Dawar, including former member of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Adnan Wazir, Brigadier Naeem Bhatti, and Additional Accountant General Islamabad Sharifullah Khan. The friends told us that the joint investigation team questioned them like a team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and asked questions about the assets of Tahir Dawar. The investigators did not pose any questions about Tahir Dawar’s abduction and murder." Ahmaduddin claimed that prime minister Imran Khan had promised to probe the murder through a UN commission if the family was not satisfied with the joint investigation team report; however, when asked to do so, Imran Khan refused by arguing that a UN commission had previously investigated the assassination of Benazir Bhutto but its performance was unsatisfactory. He promised that the Afghan government would investigate the case.

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement Supporters of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) held protest rallies in several cities of Pakistan and demanded for an international commission to investigate the case.

Opposition parties in Pakistan Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party's leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai equated the murder of Tahir with Jamal Khashoggi, saying "both incidents required international probe." Awami National Party held protest rallies in several cities across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and backed the demand of PTM to call for an international inquiry. Qaumi Watan Party also protested against the murder and demanded for an early arrest of the killers. Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Peoples Party criticized the government of Pakistan for failing to provide security to Tahir in the capital Islamabad.

Package for Tahir's family On 4 Dec 2018, Shehryar Afridi, the State Minister of Interior, announced a package of Rs70 million for Tahir's family. He said prime minister Imran Khan had approved the package.

Tahir's poetry Tahir wrote poetry in Pashto language.