Work as usual for suspected killers of Pakistan journalist Arshad Sharif as hearing continues
The late Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif. He was shot dead at a police roadblock on the Nairobi-Magadi road.
Four General Service Unit (GSU) officers who were implicated in the shooting of journalist Arshad Sharif are still at work and yet to face any charges even as an enquiry into his murder kicked off in the Pakistan Supreme Court.
The police officers were manning a roadblock when they shot and killed Mr Sharif in November last year.
The Saturday Nation has established that the officers, including Mr Kevin Kimuyu Mutuku, who was allegedly shot in the arm on the night that Mr Sharif died, are still carrying on with their duties.
The Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA) says it is still carrying out investigations on the officers who were implicated in the fatal shooting.
In Islamabad, the Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday opened an enquiry into the journalist’s killing on October 23, 2022.
Mr Sharif died in Ting’a, along Magadi Road in Kajiado County, after the car he was riding in was shot at in an incident that the National Police Service (NPS) termed a case of mistaken identity.
The officers claimed the driver defied orders to stop as the vehicle approached a police roadblock.
The journalist was being driven from Ammodump Kwenia, a shooting range and entertainment spot in Kajiado County, where he had attended a party.
The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing to the first week of July.
A lawyer representing Mr Sharif’s mother, Ms Riffat Ara Alvi, told the Saturday Nation that the hearing would probably resume on July 10, 2023.
The matter at Pakistan’s Apex Court is before five judges, led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
“The case has been moved to the first week of July, there is a possibility that it will kick off on July 10, 2023,” Lawyer Shaukat Siddique, who is based in Pakistan, told the Saturday Nation on phone shortly after the adjournment orders were issued.
The Pakistan government had in November 2022 formed a joint investigation team (JIT) that visited Kenya on a fact-finding mission with the aim of unravelling the circumstances that led to the death of the prominent journalist.
The JIT team comprised Awais Ahmed of Islamabad Police DIG Headquarters, who led four others identified as Muhammad Aslam from the Inter-Services Intelligence, Murtaza Afzal from the Military Intelligence, Federal Investigation Agency’s Waqaruddin Syed, and Sajid Kayani of the Intelligence Bureau.
Supreme Court order
The Supreme Court has ordered that the team should collaborate with the family of the slain journalist to assist in the hearing.
In March this year, the JIT team released a sealed report that was presented to the Supreme Court judges. Contents of the report were kept in a sealed envelope and have remained confidential since.
The JIT team accused Kenya’s National Police Service (NPS) of not cooperating with them but the government never responded to the accusation.
Ms Riffat, through her lawyer Siddique, filed a petition in court seeking to be granted access to the team’s report.
Ms Siddque had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to have independent international organisations carry out free and fair investigations into the matter. The petition is yet to be officially brought before the court.
By April, IPOA had handed over its file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), which made recommendations before returning it.
Contacted this week, the IPOA did not respond to our inquiries on why the officers were still at work despite being directly connected to the killing.
“IPOA’s investigations are still ongoing. The breadth of the findings will determine the nature of recommendations that the authority will make to relevant agencies, including the ODPP if culpability of any police officer is established,” said Ms Ann Makori in an earlier interview.
It has also emerged that an investigation that was being conducted by the Kenyan police had been halted.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had conducted a parallel investigation to ascertain what transpired on the night Mr Sharif died.
“The matter is on hold for now,” Kiserian DCI boss Kennedy Kirwai told The Saturday Nation.
The Saturday Nation is also aware that the family of Mr Waqar Ahmed and Khuram Ahmed, who had hosted Sharif in Kenya, have asked to be given back the motor vehicle that the journalist is said to have died in.
A family member who spoke in confidence said they had already started the process of getting back the motor vehicle; a Toyota Land cruiser registration number KDG 200M.
“The process has started, authorities are informed that the vehicle is needed,” said the family source.
Sharif left his home country on August 10, 2022, and fled to Dubai, but was ordered to leave the country or face expatriation to his home country.
He requested a grace period of two days ashe worked out his next move.
He then contacted his former boss at ARY Media, Mr Iqbal, who linked him up with Mr Waqar Ahmed, a Pakistan national who runs Ammodump Kwenia.
Ms Riffat that her son had informed them of what had happened in Dubai and that was how he fled to Kenya and started living with new friends in Nairobi.
