According to Kenyan media reports, two key pieces of evidence, including a mobile phone and a tablet belonging to journalist Arshad Sharif, have reportedly “disappeared” from the crime scene.
Nearly 20 days after Mr Sharif’s ‘murder’, police are yet to make a breakthrough as they are still searching for the equipment missing from the scene, Kenyan newspaper The star reported.
A team of Pakistani investigators – consisting of FIA director Athar Wahid and IB deputy director-general Omar Shahid Hamid – dispatched to investigate the killing also questioned the timing of the disappearance of the devices, which they believe may have been lost they may have been stolen when Mr Sharif was shot, the report said.
So far, police have established that Mr Sharif arrived in Kenya on August 20 on a visa sponsored by Waqar and Khurram Ahmed, the two brothers who hosted him. The latter was in the car with Mr Sharif when he was shot at.
TV stations claim the autopsy revealed signs the journalist was “tortured”.
According to the Kenyan news channel, the team of Pakistani investigators has been looking for the names and contacts of instructors who were present at the shooting range when Mr Sharif was there nation. Following the request, the Kenyan government has asked the two brothers to share the details of those who were present at the shooting range that evening.
In the meantime, geo news, citing a Kenyan government official, reported that about 10 US trainers and trainees were present at the site. In his statement to the team, Mr Waqar said he only met Mr Sharif once before inviting him to dinner at the shooting range, it is said nation Report.
“After the meal, Arshad Sharif walked in the car with my brother Khurram and half an hour later it was reported that the vehicle had been shot at,” he said.
The two brothers also told investigators that Mr Sharif wanted to move permanently to Kenya with his family and had even extended his visa nation.
In her interview to The nation, Mr Sharif’s wife Javeria Siddique said she had asked her husband to leave Kenya and seek political asylum in another country as she did not believe it was safe. She also said her family plans to take the case to the International Court of Justice as the governments of Pakistan and Kenya “would never bring them justice”.
On Tuesday, Home Minister Rana Sanaullah said Mr Sharif had been killed in a targeted attack, dismissing Kenyan police’s claim that his killing was the result of a “mistaken identity”.
Also on Wednesday, several TV channels claimed Mr Sharif was brutally tortured and shot dead at point blank range after he was asked to get out of his car.
Newscasts showed images allegedly showing gunshot marks and torture marks on the body and claimed that the autopsy mentioned torture marks. Responding to the claims, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said the government’s stance had been proven wrong.
“That [alleged] Evidence of torture of Arshad Sharif Shaheed invalidates the Pakistani government’s stance that he was killed using a mistaken identity,” he tweeted.
Published in Dawn, November 10, 2022
