The body of Senior journalist Arshad Sharif, who was assassinated by Kenyan police three days ago, landed in Islamabad early on Wednesday.
“My Arshad is back, but in coffin,” his wife Javeria Siddique said on Twitter. She also shared a video showing the coffin.
میرا ارشد آگیا #قوم_کا_ہیرو_ارشد_شریف pic.twitter.com/PZKeYfayAs
— Javeria Siddique (@javerias) October 26, 2022
TV channels broadcast footage of a large crowd gathering outside the Islamabad airport, including politicians and members of the media community.
Earlier, she complained about having a “horrible experience” at Islamabad airport, saying she was not allowed to see her late husband’s dead body.
“Closed gates and kept me waiting. All journalist community has witnessed this cruelty. Shame on the imported government,” she said.
Arshad was shot dead in Kenya allegedly by the local police on Sunday night, with an official police statement later expressing “regrets on the unfortunate incident” and saying an investigation was underway.
Kenyan media initially quoted the local police as saying Sharif was shot dead by police in a case of “mistaken identity”.
A statement released by the National Police Service of Kenya later confirmed that the incident occurred last night along the Kwenia farm/Kamukuru Marram road within Magadi, where “a foreigner namely Arshad Mohammed Shariff (sic), a Pakistani national aged 50 years was fatally wounded by a police officer while a passenger in a motor vehicle KDG 200M.
“At the time of the incident, deceased was in company of his brother namely Khurram Ahmed. Incident follows a circulation from Pangani Police of a stolen motor vehicle. The officers trailing the motor vehicle towards Magadi alerted police in Magadi who erected a road barrier,” it said.
However, amid widespread condemnation and condolences, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Tuesday that a judicial commission would be formed to probe the journalist’s killing.
In a video message from Saudi Arabia, he had said that the commission would be responsible for determining the facts of the “tragic incident in a transparent and conclusive manner”.
The government has also constituted a three-member team, comprising Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director Athar Wahid, Intelligence Bureau (IB) deputy director general Omar Shahid Hamid and Lt Col Saad Ahmed of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to probe the incident.
At the same time, the military has requested the government to conduct a “high-level investigation” into the “accidental” killing.
Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar said: “It is very unfortunate that people indulge in allegations […] and I think a thorough investigation needs to be conducted to tackle these things. I believe that the probe should not just be into these things but also on why Arshad Sharif had to leave Pakistan.”
Gen Iftikhar stressed that it was important to find answers to questions regarding who forced Sharif to leave Pakistan, where did he live all this time, and what were the circumstances leading to this incident.
“At all these stages unfortunately, at the end of the day, allegations are leveled and institutions are accused. So this speculation has to be put to rest and it has to come to an end,” he added.