Kenya, Pakistan differ on journalist Arshad Sharif’s death
The late Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif. Kenya and Pakistan have differed on how Sharif met his death.
Kenya and Pakistan have differed on how journalist Arshad Sharif met his death.
While Kenya police say the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, a Pakistani government official said the incident is being treated as murder, though he added that investigations are ongoing.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) said yesterday that investigations show police officers were involved in the killing.
Ipoa made the statement just hours after Pakistan claimed Kenya knows what transpired and that Sharif was murdered.
Ipoa chairperson Anne Makori supported a statement issued earlier by the National Police Service (NPS), indicating the journalist was shot dead by General Service Unit (GSU) officers.
According to Ms Makori, the findings stemmed from investigations carried out by a rapid response team that was sent to the scene of the October 23 incident.
“The team established that police were involved in the shooting. The matter falls within the mandate of Ipoa,” Ms Makori said.
She added that her agency established that Sharif died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head.
She said the authority is conducting investigations to establish the circumstances surrounding the journalist’s shooting.
“Ipoa is going to make appropriate recommendations once investigations are completed,” Ms Makori said.
Case to answer
Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the two brothers who were hosting the journalist in Kenya – Waqar and Khurram Ahmad – have several questions to answer.
The two, who are originally from Pakistan but hold Canadian passports, own Ammodump Kweni joint, the last place 50-year-old Sharif was seen alive.
“It is murder and it seems to be prima facie. The two brothers are still not out of it,” Mr Sanaullah told reporters.
Prima facie means something appears true on first impression but may later be proved false.
“Arshad Sharif was murdered. It was a targeted murder and not a case of mistaken identity,” the minister added, rejecting a version of the incident given by the NPS that the journalist was shot at a roadblock on Magadi Road in Kajiado County in a case of mistaken identity.
Mr Sanaullah said a three-member security team sent to Nairobi to unravel the mystery of the journalist’s death has already briefed him.
The minister, however, added that investigations by the Pakistani government have not been completed, saying detectives would travel to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where the journalist had fled to before flying to Kenya.
Independent commission
Mr Sanaullah said the Pakistani government has asked the country’s chief justice to form an independent commission to investigate Sharif’s killing.
“It is upon the chief justice to nominate the person to head the commission of inquiry,” the minister said.
Sharif was a former reporter and anchor with ARY TV, which is based in Pakistan.
He was an ally of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan who himself was recently shot at a political rally.
Sharif fled Pakistan after being booked on charges of sedition and peddling an anti-state narrative against PM Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.
