Daily Times

The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) fixed renowned Arshad Sharif’s killing suo motu case for hearing on January 5. A five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial will hear the case on January 5 at 1 pm while the registrar of the apex court has also issued notices to the parties. On December 5, the Supreme Court while taking suo moto notice of Arshad’s killing in Kenya and remarked that the journalist community in the country and the public at large are deeply distressed and are concerned about the death of the senior journalist and are seeking the court’s scrutiny of the matter.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have penned separate letters to the CJP asking him to conduct an independent judicial inquiry into the killing of the journalist. Arshad Sharif was allegedly killed by Kenyan police after he and his driver had driven through a police checkpoint in the outskirts of Nairobi. However, an autopsy showed that Arshad Sharif was shot from far too close a range compared to what was being claimed by Kenyan police. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also said journalist Arshad Sharif was killed in a “targeted attack”, stating that no evidence was found to support the narrative that he was shot dead in a case of “mistaken identity”. “Prima facie, it is a targeted murder as the narrative of ‘mistaken identity’ has not been proven […] and there are many doubts,” he said, adding that further information would only emerge after a detailed investigation was conducted.