• November 12, 2022
• General News
• Web Desk

Those handling the probe said they are not aware of claims Sharif was brutally tortured for hours before being shot dead.

• He was shot and killed on October 23, 2022 at a police roadblock in an incident that has sparked speculations and blame game.

Kenyan authorities say the probe into the killing of Pakistani journalist Ashraf Sharif is ongoing.

Those handling the probe said they are not aware of claims Sharif was brutally tortured for hours before being shot dead.

Sharif, 49, a former reporter and TV anchor with Ary TV and known for his proximity to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, had fled to Kenya after he was booked on charges of sedition and peddling an “anti-state” narrative by Pakistan’s security agencies earlier this year.

He was shot and killed on October 23, 2022, at a police roadblock in an incident that has sparked speculations and a blame game.

Pakistan media cited a post-mortem report of Sharif, saying the journalist was brutally tortured for hours before being shot dead.

The media added around ’10 American instructors and trainers’ were present at the shooting range where he was on the day of Sharif’s death.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said evidence suggested Sharif was the victim of a targeted killing in Kenya, not an accidental shooting, though he still needed more information on the incident.

The Pakistan government has formed an investigation team to look into the matter while the interior minister said the Kenyan police had not yet given Pakistani investigators all of Sharif’s recovered belongings.

Kenya insists the shooting was a case of mistaken identity.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), which is leading the probe said their findings show so far police were involved in the shooting.

Chairperson Anne Makori said their findings have shown the General Service Unit were involved in the shooting. She added they are yet to be informed of the claims of the torture of the deceased man.

“As far as we are concerned, the GSU personnel were involved in the shooting. We have so far found out the journalist died out of a gunshot wound in the head,” she said.

She added the authority is conducting investigations to establish the circumstances surrounding the journalist’s shooting.

They will then make recommendations when the probe is complete.

Sharif was being driven by one Khurram Ahmad when he met his death.

The Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah claimed Khurram and his brother Waqar who were hosting the journalist in Kenya have several questions to answer.

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

“Arshad Sharif was murdered. It was a targeted murder and not a case of mistaken identity,” the minister added, rejecting a version of the incident given by Kenya police that the journalist was shot at a roadblock on Magadi Road in Kajiado in a case of mistaken identity.

Sanaullah said a three-member security team sent to Nairobi to unravel the mystery of the journalist’s death has already briefed him.

The minister said the police had not yet returned the belongings acquired from the crime scene.

“We have gotten a lot of things… but some of them are still in their [Kenyan police’s] custody.”

The items include a mobile phone and an iPad belonging to Sharif.

He added detectives would travel to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where the journalist had fled to before flying to Kenya.

The Kenyan team say they are yet to get more information on where Sharif stayed.

The team says they want to get CCTV footage, if any, of an apartment where Sharif stayed with his friends for two months along Riverside Drive.

He lived with the family of brothers Waqar Ahmad and Khurram Ahmad who own and run the shooting range in Kajiado where Sharif had been hours before his death.

The detectives also want to know the names and contacts of the instructors who were present at the range. Waqar runs Ammodump Shooting range in the area.

The Kenyan team met that of Pakistan two weeks ago and briefed them on the progress so far.

Source: Star.co