Arshad Sharif death was targeted murder, Pakistani government says

The Pakistani government on Tuesday night said slain journalist Arshad Sharif was murdered and that his death was not a case of mistaken identity as the Kenyan government claimed.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah further said that the two brothers, Waqar and Khurram Ahmad, who were hosting Sharif in Kenya were not off the hook yet as they had a number of questions to answer.

The two brothers who are originally from Pakistan, but hold Canadian passports, also own Ammodump Kweni joint, which was the last place Sharif, 50, was seen alive.

“It is murder and it seems to be a prima facie, the two brothers in Kenya are still not out of it,” the minister said.

“Prima facie Arshad Sharif was murdered. It was a targeted murder and not a case of mistaken identity,” he added as he rejected a version of the incident given by the Kenya police that Mr Sharif was shot and killed by officers at a roadblock on Magadi Road in Kajiado County.

Prima facie is a common term amongst lawyers which means that based on the first impression something is accepted as correct until proven otherwise.

Sanaullah said the three-member security team that was sent to Nairobi to unravel the death of the journalist has given him a brief. 

The minister added that the investigation being conducted by Pakistan is yet to be completed and a plan is underway to send the trio to Dubai, where Sharif fled before coming to Kenya. 

He said the Pakistani government had already written to the Chief Justice of the country to form an independent commission to investigate the killing of the journalist.

“It is now the role of the Chief Justice to nominate the person who will head the commission of inquiry,” he said.