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Journalist organisations should be updated on inquiry into Arshad Sharif’s killing: court

Barrister Shoaib Razzaq urges court to form fact-finding commission
Arshad Sharif speaks during an event on “Regime Change Conspiracy and Pakistan’s Destabilisation” in Islamabad in this photo taken on June 22, 2022. AFP
Arshad Sharif speaks during an event on “Regime Change Conspiracy and Pakistan’s Destabilisation” in Islamabad in this photo taken on June 22, 2022. AFP

ISLAMABAD: The journalist organizations should be updated on the issue of inquiry into the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif, the Islamabad High Court said on Tuesday.

“There will be no point in creating a commission at this stage,” IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said while hearing Barrister Shoaib Razzaq’s petition to form a fact-finding commission to investigate the journalist’s killing.

Sharif, who hosted ARY News’ show Power Play, was killed in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi on Sunday night. His death shocked everyone in Pakistan after it was reported at around 3am on Monday. He went into self-exile after a show in which PTI leader Shahbaz Gill made “controversial remarks”.

Read: A journalist’s mysterious death and Pakistan’s ‘free press’

The Kenyan police admitted later on Monday that the journalist was killed in a “case of mistaken identity”, raising several questions over the incident.

“NPS regrets to announce an incident that occurred last night (…) where a foreign national namely Arshad Muhammad Sharif was fatally wounded by a police officer,” the Kenyan police said in a statement on Twitter, adding that the incident followed the circulation of a stolen motor vehicle.

The IHC chief justice, who presided over the case, at the outset of the hearing asked whether anyone went to meet the journalist’s family and do they need any assistance.

During Monday’s case proceedings, Minallah ordered that the appointed officers of interior and foreign ministries should immediately meet the bereaved family of the slain journalist.

Read: ‘Reputable’ Kenya police oversight body to probe Arshad Sharif’s death

“Arshad Sharif’s dead body will also arrive today [Tuesday],” lawyer Razzaq said, “We request that a judicial commission be formed to investigate the murder.”

He told the court that the government had asked the United Arab Emirates government to return Sharif.

“I have come today only to hear this case,” the IHC chief justice said.

The deputy attorney general described the killing as a “sad incident”. He said the report from the Kenyan government should come.

“If they have any objection, then the case should be heard further,” the deputy attorney general said.

The IHC adjourned the hearing of the case for one week.

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