The members of a Pakistani investigation team probing the death ofjournalist Arshad Sharif interrogated two people in Kenya with whom theslain journalist was staying.
The two members of the probe team met with Waqar Ahmad and Khurram Ahmadand asked them questions regarding the shooting incident in whichjournalist Arshad Sharif lost his life.
In his statement to the Pakistani sleuths, Waqar Ahmad said that ArshadSharif had been staying at his guest house in Kenya for almost two months.Some ‘friend’ requested him to accommodate the TV anchor, he said addingthat before their meeting in Nairobi, he met only once with Sharif at aluncheon. He said he had invited Sharif to his lodge at lunch which wassituated out of Nairobi.
Waqar said that on the day of the incident, we ate lunch with Sharif at ourlodge and after that ‘the journalist left the place with my brother KhurramAhmad.’ He went on to say that after half an hour, he was informed thattheir vehicle came under fire.
While in his statement, Khurram Ahmad said that starting from their lodgethere is an 18km-long stretch of dirt road and after that the carpeted roadstarts.
He said as they were only a few kilometers away from the carpeted road,some pebbles were thrown on the path and as soon as they crossed thepebble-filled dirt road, their vehicle came under fire. He said he gotscared and accelerated the speed of his vehicle.
Waqar said that Khurram miraculously remained unscathed in the incident.
He said that the IPad and mobile phone which were under the use of ArshadSharif were handed over to the Kenyan authorities.
He further revealed that Sharif was thinking of shifting to Nairobi and forthis purpose, he had extended his visa.
On Oct 26, the government has formed a two-member investigation teamconsisting of sleuths from the country’s top intelligence agencies toinvestigate the murder of renowned journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director Athar Waheed was appointed ashead of the investigation team. The other member of the team isIntelligence Bureau (IB) Deputy Director General Umar Shahid Hamid.
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On Oct 24, senior Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was shot dead on lastSunday night along the Nairobi-Magadi highway in what Kenyan police termedas mistaken identity.
Arshad Sharif was shot in the head and killed by police after he and hisdriver allegedly breached a roadblock that had been set up to check onmotor vehicles using the route.
They were driving from Magadi town to Nairobi when they were flagged downat a roadblock being manned by a group of police officers, police said.Police headquarters said Independent Policing Oversight Authority will takeover the case.
A senior police officer confirmed the shooting and added a comprehensivestatement will be released later.
“We had an incident of shooting which turned out to be a case of mistakenidentity involving a journalist. We will release more information later,”the officer said.
According to police, at the roadblock, there was a call for police tointercept a car similar to the one they were driving following a carjackingincident in Pangani area, Nairobi where a child was taken hostage.
And a few minutes later, Sharif’s car emerged at the roadblock and theywere stopped and asked to identify themselves. They allegedly failed tostop and drove past the roadblock.
This prompted a brief chase and shooting that left Sharif dead. Their carrolled and his driver was injured and taken to hospital.