KARACHI: Pakistani authorities investigating journalist Arshad Sharif’skilling in Kenya have decided to seek Interpol’s help after hitting “adead-end,” an official familiar with the probe said on Thursday, addingSharif’s hosts in the African state had to be brought to Pakistan toresolve the mystery surrounding the case.
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.
Pakistani investigators, however, believe the incident to be a case oftargeted murder. They recently visited the East African state to determinethe circumstances of Sharif’s death and recorded the statement of twobrothers, Waqar and Khurram Ahmed, who hosted him at their guesthouse forabout two months.
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.
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“Arshad Sharif was victim of targeted killing,” said the senior officialwho spoke to Arab News on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivenature of the issue. “There was an ambush, not a police picket, but sinceit is an international case involving three different countries, we havearrived at a dead-end for the time being.”
“The government has decided to contact Interpol after a planned visit tothe United Arab Emirates by our fact-finding team to gather more clues nextweek,” he continued.
