New details surface in brutal murder of slain journalist Arshad Sharif
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday said the two Pakistani brothers, Khurram Ahmad and Waqar Ahmad, who hosted slain journalist Arshad Sharif in Nairobi, were complicit in his murder along with the Kenyan police.
An official familiar with the investigation into Sharif’s killing told Arab News earlier this week that Pakistan was seeking Interpol’s help to bring Waqar and Khurram back to Pakistan for questioning.
A prominent Pakistani journalist who became a harsh critic of the incumbent government and the military toward the end of his life, Sharif was killed on October 23 when his car was said to have sped up and drove through a checkpoint outside the Kenyan capital, prompting the police to open fire.
The law enforcement officials in Nairobi expressed regret over the incident, saying it was a case of “mistaken identity” during a search for a car involved in a child abduction case. Pakistan dispatched a team to Kenya to conduct a probe into the killing. The team recorded the statement of the two brothers.
Speaking to local TV channel Geo News, Sanaullah said Sharif’s visit visa to Kenya was sponsored by Waqar, adding that the slain journalist was also living at Waqar’s flat in Nairobi.
“Waqar, Khurram and those five Kenyan police personnel are involved in this incident,” he said. “They are complicit in this murder. You can say this happened as a result of their ‘joint venture’,” he added.
Sanaullah said facts collected by the Pakistani authorities in Kenya made it clear that it was not a case of “mistaken identity” but was a case of targeted killing.
Waqar had reportedly invited the slain journalist to dine with him on the day of the killing at his lodge outside Nairobi while Khurram was driving him back when the shooting incident took place. Local media also reported quite widely Sharif’s postmortem report showed he had been tortured before being 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 at the other end [Khurram], and how they had to save him to achieve the target.”
The slain journalist left his country after several cases related to charges of sedition and others were filed against him. He was believed to have been in the UAE since leaving Pakistan before he decided to travel to Kenya.
