Slain Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was planning to move his family to Nairobi and live here permanently, it has now emerged.
According to Mr Khurram Ahmed and his brother Mr Waqar Ahmed, who were hosting the 50-year-old journalist on the fateful day, Mr Sharif had extended his Visa to accommodate his plan.
A team from Pakistan that was sent to Kenya to find out what transpired when Mr Sharif died on Monday, October 31, 2022, visited the scene where he was shot.
The team which was set up by Pakistan Ministry of Interior includes; Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Director Athar Waheed and Intelligence Bureau's (IB) Deputy Director General Omar Shahid Hamid and they will be staying in the country for two weeks.
The investigating team on the same day questioned Mr Khurram Ahmed and his brother Mr Waqar Ahmed over the death of the journalist.
The duo also dismissed claims that it was ARY Digital Network boss Mr Salman Iqbal who asked them to host the deceased here in Kenya.
“I met Arshad Sharif only once and that too on a meal, and later invited him for a meal at my lodge located outside Nairobi,” Mr Waqar is quoted by International media to have told the investigating team.
"On the day of the incident, Arshad had a meal with us at our lodge. He left with my brother Khurram after the meal in the car and half an hour later there was a report of firing on the vehicle,” he told the team.
According to him, Mr Khurram miraculously survived the incident yet he was the one who was driving the vehicle when Mr Sharif was shot at.
The duo also said that Kenyan detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) took their phones as the investigations into the murder go on.
The two brothers told the Pakistani investigating officers that the slain journalist was planning to relocate his family to Nairobi.
The postmortem was conducted on Wednesday last week, after Mr Sharif’s body arrived in his home country. They handed the bullet to police officers in Pakistan.
Investigators said they believe the bullet is a crucial lead in the ongoing investigations into the murder of Mr Sharif, which has been marred by controversy.
It is unclear whether the pathologists who conducted the post-mortem in Kenya last Tuesday, had noticed the bullet and if so, if they deliberately left it there.
Nation is in possession of the post-mortem report filed in Pakistan which states that Mr Sharif, 50, died 10 to 30 minutes after he was shot in the brain and lung.
