Pakistan sends security agents to Kenya to probe Arshad Sharif’s death

NATION AFRICA||NAIROBI: The government of Pakistan has sent three senior security officers to Kenya to investigate the death of journalist Arshad Sharif.

The team includes the country’s director of the Federal Investigation Agency Athar Waheed and deputy director general of the Intelligence Bureau Omar Shahid Hamid. 

Sharif was killed by Kenyan police officers on Sunday night in what authorities have claimed was a case of mistaken identity. 

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose administration has been on the receiving end of the journalist’s stories critical of his government, on Monday said President Ruto has assured him of a transparent investigation into the killing. 

The National Police Service (NPS) said in a statement that officers manning a roadblock on Magadi Road mistook Sharif and his brother Khurram Ahmed for kidnappers that were trafficking a child from Starehe in Nairobi. 

The late journalist was described as a bold man who defied all odds in a country known to be among the most unsafe for journalists. He used to criticise Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who assumed power in April 2022 following the ouster of former cricket star Imran Khan through a vote of no confidence.

His woes with the administration started when he exposed the prime minister’s travel to Saudi Arabia, becoming the first to do so. A few days later, his lawyer revealed that he had been informed that people in civilian uniforms had gone to the journalist’s house.

“I got a call from Arshad Sharif last night. The story about the prime minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia was broken by Arshad Sharif,” the lawyer was quoted telling the court in April 2022. 

“People went to Arshad Sharif’s house in civil uniform last night. I have not been in direct contact with (him) since last night.”

Mr Sharif had departed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prematurely after he heard about plans to deport him to Pakistan, suggesting that he was concerned about his safety.

In August 2022, the journalist resigned from ARY News, where he hosted a talk show about political activities in Pakistan.

At the time he fled his home country, Mr Sharif was facing sedition charges. Sedition is conduct or speech considered to incite people to rebel against the authority of a state of a monarch.

Mr Sharif died on Sunday night as he left a club known as Ammodump Kwenia, which is popular among Pakistanis and Indians living in Kenya.