Arshad Sharif’s killing was not accident: report

The killing of senior journalist Arshad Sharif in October last year was a well-planned murder, which left both Pakistan and Kenya looking at each other suspiciously, NTV Kenya reported on Monday.

“One year after the gruesome murder of celebrated Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif, little to near zero effort has been made to nail his killers,” the Kenyan news channel said in its investigation into the “assassination” of Sharif.

Sharif was shot dead along the Nairobi-Magadi highway on October 23 night in a case of “mistaken identity,” the Kenyan police said. Later the National Police Service Kenya admitted that a police officer shot Sharif dead.

But former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko had claimed that the Kenyan police were tricked into shooting the journalist, who they thought was involved in a motor vehicle theft.

In October this year, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar sought facilitation from Kenyan President William Ruto over the finalisation of the investigation into Sharif’s murder.

“NTV can now report that the death of the journalist, who was on the run, was not an accident,” the Kenyan news channel said and added that it was a “well-planned murder” that left both countries looking at each other “suspiciously”. It claimed that neither Kenya, nor Pakistan, has committed to unraveling the murder.

The report was informed by police photographs taken during the early stages of Sharif’s murder investigation and the search led by special projects and investigations reporter Brian Obuya into the murder. According to him, it was still not clear whether the journalist was killed in the car his body was found in or if he was killed elsewhere and his body placed in the car.