NAIROBI, Kenya – Police shot and killed a senior Pakistani journalist hiding in Kenya after the vehicle he was in sped up instead of stopping at a police checkpoint near Nairobi, the police said on Monday.
They claimed it was a case of “mistaken identity” while looking for a similar vehicle involved in a child kidnapping case.
Arshad Sharif, 50, fled Pakistan in July to avoid being arrested for critiquing the powerful military of the South Asian country. He has also been a critic of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s govt, who has stated repeatedly that he believes in media freedom.
Sharif was shot in the head & killed on Sunday night just after vehicle he was riding in with his brother, Khurram Ahmed, ran through a police checkpoint set up on the Nairobi-Magadi highway to inspect automobiles along the key route, according to Nairobi police. They were on their way from Magadi to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
They dismissed police instructions to halt and accelerated. “They didn’t stop and continued their journey,” police said. The car rolled over as officers opened fire and pursued it.
Sharif’s wife, Javeria Siddique, acknowledged her husband’s death in Kenya. His brother’s situation was unknown at the time.
Sharif fled Pakistan in July to avoid arrest in response to a citizen complaint accusing him of demonizing the country’s national institutions, an allusion to the military.
His exact location had been unknown to the general public; most of his friends only knew that he had visited Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, as well as London.
Nairobi police have said that the case will be turned over to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority for extensive examination.
“We encountered a shooting incident that turned out to be a mistaken identity situation involving a journalist.” “More details will be released later,” a senior Kenyan police officer stated “ earlier, wishing to remain anonymous as he was not mandated to speak with the press.
The check point was set up by police to find as well as intercept a car similar to Sharif’s after a carjacking in Nairobi’s Pangani neighborhood, where a child was held captive.
Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Sharif, who’s unrelated to the killed journalist, the nation’s military, as well as other senior officials conveyed their deepest sympathies.
Arshad Sharif was fired by the private ARY Television a month after he fled Pakistan, citing violations of the TV station’s policy for repeatedly criticizing the military on social networking sites. His POWERPLAY talk show, that also aired on Mondays as well as Thursdays, was cancelled.
Just after the sacking of his predecessor, Imran Khan, during a no-confidence vote in parliament in April, the station had remained critical of Pakistan’s prime minister earlier this year. Khan claims he was deposed as part of a US plot, which both Washington as well as the Pakistani authorities deny.
On Monday, Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party and senior officials, such as Fawad Chaudhry, condemned Sharif’s assassination and insisted on an investigation. Khan also paid a visit to Sharif’s home in Islamabad to convey his sincerest sympathies to the Sharif family.
In August, an Islamabad court ordered Pakistan’s intelligence apparatus and police to stop harassing Sharif after the journalist, through his counsel, petitioned the court, alleging that security forces were violating his fundamental rights.
At the time, police and the government confirmed that Sharif was wanted in connection with a complaint but stated that no action had been taken to arrest Sharif.
Pakistan has long been a dangerous place for journalists. In 2020, it ranked 9th on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Annual Impunity Index, which ranks countries where reporters are routinely murdered and the perpetrators go free.
