Four General Service Unit (GSU) officers who were implicated in the shooting of journalist Arshad Sharif are still at work and yet to face any charges even as an enquiry into his murder kicked off in the Pakistan Supreme Court.
The Saturday Nation
In Islamabad, the Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday opened an enquiry into the journalist’s killing on October 23, 2022.
The officers claimed the driver defied orders to stop as the vehicle approached a police roadblock.Ammodump Kwenia, a shooting range and entertainment spot in Kajiado County, where he had attended a party.
A lawyer representing Mr Sharif’s mother, Ms Riffat Ara Alvi, told the Saturday Nation
The matter at Pakistan’s Apex Court is before five judges, led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.Saturday Nation
The Pakistan government had in November 2022 formed a joint investigation team (JIT) that visited Kenya on a fact-finding mission with the aim of unravelling the circumstances that led to the death of the prominent journalist.
The JIT team comprised Awais Ahmed of Islamabad Police DIG Headquarters, who led four others identified as Muhammad Aslam from the Inter-Services Intelligence, Murtaza Afzal from the Military Intelligence, Federal Investigation Agency’s Waqaruddin Syed, and Sajid Kayani of the Intelligence Bureau.
The Supreme Court has ordered that the team should collaborate with the family of the slain journalist to assist in the hearing.
The JIT team accused Kenya’s National Police Service (NPS) of not cooperating with them but the government never responded to the accusation.
Ms Riffat, through her lawyer Siddique, filed a petition in court seeking to be granted access to the team’s report.
By April, IPOA had handed over its file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), which made recommendations before returning it.
Contacted this week, the IPOA did not respond to our inquiries on why the officers were still at work despite being directly connected to the killing.
“IPOA’s investigations are still ongoing. The breadth of the findings will determine the nature of recommendations that the authority will make to relevant agencies, including the ODPP if culpability of any police officer is established,” said Ms Ann Makori in an earlier interview.
It has also emerged that an investigation that was being conducted by the Kenyan police had been halted.
“The matter is on hold for now,” Kiserian DCI boss Kennedy Kirwai told The Saturday Nation.
A family member who spoke in confidence said they had already started the process of getting back the motor vehicle; a Toyota Land cruiser registration number KDG 200M.
“The process has started, authorities are informed that the vehicle is needed,” said the family source.
He then contacted his former boss at ARY Media, Mr Iqbal, who linked him up with Mr Waqar Ahmed, a Pakistan national who runs Ammodump Kwenia.
Ms Riffat that her son had informed them of what had happened in Dubai and that was how he fled to Kenya and started living with new friends in Nairobi.
