ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday said thetwo Pakistani brothers, Khurram Ahmad and Waqar Ahmad, who hosted slainjournalist Arshad Sharif in Nairobi, were complicit in his murder alongwith the Kenyan police.
An official familiar with the investigation into Sharif’s killing told ArabNews earlier this week that Pakistan was seeking Interpol’s help to bringWaqar and Khurram back to Pakistan for questioning.
A prominent Pakistani journalist who became a harsh critic of the incumbentgovernment and the military toward the end of his life, Sharif was killedon October 23 when his car was said to have sped up and drove through acheckpoint outside the Kenyan capital, prompting the police to open fire.
The law enforcement officials in Nairobi expressed regret over theincident, saying it was a case of “mistaken identity” during a search for acar involved in a child abduction case. Pakistan dispatched a team to Kenyato conduct a probe into the killing. The team recorded the statement of thetwo brothers.
Speaking to local TV channel Geo News, Sanaullah said Sharif’s visit visato Kenya was sponsored by Waqar, adding that the slain journalist was alsoliving at Waqar’s flat in Nairobi.
“Waqar, Khurram and those five Kenyan police personnel are involved in thisincident,” he said. “They are complicit in this murder. You can say thishappened as a result of their ‘joint venture’,” he added.
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Sanaullah said facts collected by the Pakistani authorities in Kenya madeit clear that it was not a case of “mistaken identity” but was a case oftargeted killing.
Waqar had reportedly invited the slain journalist to dine with him on theday of the killing at his lodge outside Nairobi while Khurram was drivinghim back when the shooting incident took place. Local media also reportedquite widely Sharif’s postmortem report showed he had been tortured beforebeing shot.
“People who fired at the vehicle knew who they were firing at and where he[Sharif] was sitting,” Sanaullah said. “They also knew who was sitting atthe other end [Khurram], and how they had to save him to achieve thetarget.”
The slain journalist left his country after several cases related tocharges of sedition and others were filed against him. He was believed tohave been in the UAE since leaving Pakistan before he decided to travel toKenya.
