The Pakistani Supreme Court demanded on Wednesday that the federal government form a new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on journalist Arshad Sharif’s murder after Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman’s fact-finding report said that the death was “planned and targeted.”
Sharif, a strong critic of the Pakistani Army and the incumbent government, was shot dead by the Kenyan police in October; local authorities claimed it was a case of mistaken identity.
During the hearing, the attorney general presented the government’s fact-finding report on Sharif’s murder, formulated by representatives of the Federal Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau after collecting information in Kenya.
It said that the murder was a “planned and targeted assassination” orchestrated by “transnational powers,” which could include individuals from Kenya, Dubai, and Pakistan.
The report said that the main suspect, Waqar Ahmed, who was driving and hosting Sharif in Kenya, had close ties with the Kenyan police and the Kenyan National Intelligence Service (NIS).
To this end, it stated, “His linkage with national and international agencies provides a scope of possibilities of transnational characters in this case.”
Moreover, the NIS had reporedly asked Waqar not to hand over Sharif’s belongings to the Pakistani High Commission in Nairobi.
I welcome Supreme Court taking suo motu notice of the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif. I had already written a letter to Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan for setting up a Judicial Commission to probe the murder. The government will extend full cooperation to the Court.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) December 6, 2022
Rehman confirmed that the gunmen who killed Sharif were Kenyan police officers. The report asserted that Kenyan authorities’ claim that the incident was a case of “mistaken identity” was full of contradictions.
“Their version of events is not believable,” it said, highlighting Kenyan authorities’ lack of cooperation in the investigation.
The investigation said the bullet was fired from a close range. However, it didn’t make a hole in the car seat, which does not match the firing pattern.
Keeping this in mind, the report claimed, “The four [General Service Unit] police officials and OC GSU Training camp had been used as instruments in this case under influence, either financial or some other compulsion.”
Rehman assured that the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cooperated with the investigation and tried contacting relevant Kenyan government officials.
Despite the attorney general’s reassurances, however, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi said, “I’m warning the government to take this matter seriously. The court is not here to only listen to you.”
16 FIRS were registered against Arshad Sharif - that included cases of sedition - under your watch. https://t.co/un6tM36Fw9
— Maria Memon (@Maria_Memon) December 6, 2022
During Wednesday’s hearing, the apex court also heard Sharif’s mother’s appeal, wherein she accused former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and other top military officials of being involved in the murder, as her son was often critical of the army.
The Islamabad police also informed the five-judge bench that it had set up a JIT to investigate the murder, with the Islamabad Deputy Inspector General as the chair.
However, the bench disbanded the existing JIT and called on the government to replace it with a new JIT, a report on whose work it demanded by Thursday. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial called on the government to ensure that the JIT is impartial and does not have members with connections to influential individuals, particularly those named by Sharif’s mother.
“The matter relates to a brutal murder; hence, the government, if needed, may, through the Foreign Office, seek the assistance of foreign organisations, including the United Nations,” the chief justice added.
These developments follow the Pakistani Supreme Court’s decision to take suo moto notice of the incident on Tuesday. The apex court said the murder had “shocked” the country and “caused unrest amongst the journalist community.” A shortly worded press release noted that the court had received several requests calling for intervention and demanding justice.
#Pakistan🇵🇰: Application from the mother of the murdered Pakistani journalist, Mr Arshad Sharif to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, directly pointed towards the suspects in the murder. She is seeking justice for her son alongside the entire nation of Pakistan.@soldierspeaks pic.twitter.com/lFKpugGM49
— International Human Rights Foundation (@Declaracion) December 7, 2022
Chief Justice Bandial has given three directions. Firstly, he instructed Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman to present the fact-finding committee’s report by the end of the day. Secondly, he asked the Ministry of Interior to file an FIR in Islamabad and submit it to the court by Thursday. Thirdly, he demanded a report on the Kenyan investigation’s findings from the Ministry of External Affairs.
Sharif had been living in exile since earlier this year, as he was subject to multiple criminal cases, including for sedition, over his news show, which was highly critical of the arm. Sharif was also a supporter of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Just a month before his murder, he had written to the Supreme Court lamenting the dismal state of media freedoms in Pakistan. He alleged that journalists were being charged with sedition and anti-terror charges to curb dissent.