Arshad Sharif’s laptop: Will investigators summon Rana Sanaullah alongside Murad Saeed?

The probe into the senior journalist Arshad Sharif’s assassination case has taken a new turn as the fact-finding committee claimed that his laptop was in possession of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Murad Saeed, raising questions regarding Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s claims.

The fact-finding committee has written to Murad Saeed that “During the proceedings of the finding team, it has come on record that you are in possession of Apple MacBook of deceased senior journalist Arshad Sharif. Therefore, you are requested to provide the device of the deceased, enabling the fact-finding team to ascertain the facts regarding the assassination of senior journalist in Kenya.”

Yesterday, Murad Saeed demanded that the investigation team that went to Kenya and Dubai to investigate the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif should present the evidence before the public.

Saeed said that Arshad’s laptop was not with him and those who went for investigation should “put the evidence they have brought before the nation”.

While addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Sunday, the former federal minister said that he had not received any notice from the FIA yet and the team that went for investigation had all the equipment and evidence.

The PTI leader said that Arshad had said about these people even before his martyrdom and he had a valid visa to UAE. “Now the question to ask is … who are those people due to which Arshad left UAE?”

The former minister said that some people held a news conference before Arshad’s funeral. He said that 16 fake FIRs were registered against Arshad while he was also threatened.

مراد سعید کی آج اسلام آباد میں مکمل پریس کانفرنس (1/3)@MuradSaeedPTI pic.twitter.com/yxugapn2PJ

— PTI (@PTIofficial) November 27, 2022

Saeed said that the chief justice of Pakistan should form a judicial commission to investigate the murder of Arshad and his killers should be arrested as soon as possible because neither Arshad’s family nor “we have any confidence in the current fact-finding committee of the government”. “All their narratives are based on lies.”

The committee’s findings came after Rana Sanaullah’s claims in the media in which he said that Sharif’s laptop and mobile phone could not be traced anymore.

Analysts raised reservations about the new findings of the fact-finding committee regarding the slain journalist’s laptop which made contradictions with Sanaullah’s claims. They questioned whether the committee will also summon the interior minister over making false claims.