Case swept under carpet, UN expert demands quick investigation into murder of Pak journalist

Islamabad, September 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) A United Nations (UN) expert has called on Pakistan and Kenya to step up efforts to fully investigate the murder of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya and prosecute those responsible.

Sharif, a well-known Pakistani investigative journalist, was forced to leave Pakistan after allegedly being on the hit list of a terrorist organization. He later moved to Kenya and was shot dead by Kenyan police on October 23, 2022 – claimed as a case of mistaken identity.

The journalist’s autopsy revealed that he was subjected to brutal torture, raising suspicions that the shooting may have been used as a cover.

Claiming the involvement of Pakistani intelligence agencies in the killing, Arshad Sharif’s family named then Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and then Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Nadeem Anjum for the “targeted, premeditated, planned and well-coordinated” murder. .

The Kenyan Supreme Court also called the killing unlawful, arbitrary and disproportionate in a landmark ruling on July 8 this year.

However, the investigation appears to have been kept on the back burner by both countries.

“It has now been almost two years since the death of Arshad Sharif and several months since the Kenyan Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment declaring his killing arbitrary, disproportionate and unlawful. None of the police officers involved in the shooting have been arrested and no charges have been filed. No case has yet been filed by prosecutors in Kenya,” said UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Irene Khan.

“I am deeply concerned that neither the Kenyan authorities nor the Pakistani government have stepped up their efforts to fully investigate the matter,” she added.

Khan acknowledged that the Kenyan Supreme Court’s ruling is an important victory for Sharif’s family, who had filed a civil suit.

“But the real impact will only be felt when the two governments bring the perpetrators of Sharif’s murder to justice. I urge the Kenyan and Pakistani governments to muster the political will to ensure full accountability and bring to justice all those responsible for the murder of Arshad Sharif. so that this case can become a milestone in the fight against impunity for the murder of journalists,” said Irene Khan.

In October 2023, UN experts wrote a letter to Kenyan and Pakistani authorities demanding investigations into the murder and the allegations that led to Sharif’s exile from Pakistan.

An inquiry committee was formed and an investigative team was sent to Kenya to investigate the matter, while the victim’s family directly blamed the former Pakistani army chief and former ISI boss as the main culprits behind the murder.

“Justice for Mr Sharif and his family will not be served until the circumstances behind his murder are fully clarified, including whether it was a transnational crime, and all responsible actors are identified, prosecuted and punished in Kenya and Pakistan,” Khan said .

Source: IANS

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