ISLAMABAD: A two-member team of Pakistani investigators, which was sent to Kenya to probe Arshad Sharif's killing, formally began its work, said the local media on Monday, by recording the statements of two brothers who hosted the slain journalist in the African country.
Sharif, a hugely popular talk show host, was killed on October 23 when the car he was in sped up and drove through a checkpoint outside the Kenyan capital, prompting the police to open fire. Nairobi police expressed regret over the incident, saying it was a case of "mistaken identity" during a search for a car involved in a child abduction.
The government announced it was forming the investigation team to “ascertain the facts related to the murder from Kenyan police and relevant authorities.”
The team, which includes senior officials of the Federal Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau, Athar Waheed and Umar Shahid Hamid, is facilitated by the country’s diplomatic mission in Nairobi.
“The investigation team [has] questioned the two brothers regarding the incident in which Waqar Ahmed told the team that Sharif was staying at his guest house for two months after a friend asked him to host the journalist,” reported The Express Tribune.
He added he had invited Sharif to dine with him on the day of the killing at his lodge outside Nairobi.
His brother, Khurram Ahmed, who was driving Sharif when the shooting incident took place, recalled there were stones on the road leading to the Kenyan capital.
“As soon as he crossed the stones,” the newspaper reported, ” firing started, on which he fled the car, fearing for his life.”
The two brother also told the investigation team Sharif’s phone and iPad had been “handed over to the Kenyan authorities.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recently observed Sharif’s killing had sent “shock waves through the journalist community” in the country while calling for “transparent inquiry” into the circumstances of his death.
The slain Pakistani journalist was laid to rest in Islamabad on Thursday after thousands of people attended his funeral prayers at the Shah Faisal Mosque.
