By Enyichukwu Enemanna
One of Pakistan’s most prominent investigative journalists was on Sunday night shot dead in Kenya in what police described as “a case of mistaken identity,” police in the East African country and relatives confirmed Monday.
Arshad Sharif, 50, was shot in the head after his driver allegedly breached a roadblock that had been set up by police to check on motor vehicles on the highway between Magadi town and the capital, Nairobi, a prominent Kenyan newspaper reported.
The slain journalist, with two million Twitter followers, fled Pakistan in August, citing death threats and multiple court cases launched against him and several other journalists on controversial sedition charges. Sharif hosted a popular political talk show “Power Play” for years on one of Pakistan’s leading television channels, the ARY news, before leaving the country.
The news of Sharif’s death spread fast in Pakistan where condolences and condemnations started pouring in from across the country.
Journalists, opposition politicians, lawyers, and rights groups described his death as “shocking and disturbing,” urging the Pakistani government to swiftly investigate circumstances surrounding the deadly incident in Kenya.
“I lost friend, husband and my favourite journalist [Arshad Sharif] today, as per police he was shot in Kenya,” Javeria Siddique, the wife of the slain journalist wrote on Twitter.
Prime Minister Sharif said on Twitter that he was deeply saddened and offered condolences and prayers for the family of the deceased journalists.
A Foreign Ministry statement said that officers from the Pakistan diplomatic mission in Nairobi had reached the location and identified the body of Sharif.
“His family has been assured of all possible assistance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” it said, promising to facilitate “expeditious repatriation of mortal remains” of the journalist in coordination with Kenyan authorities.
France-based Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, condemned Sharif’s murder as gruesome and utterly disturbing”, calling for an International investigation.
“The killing of Arshad Sharif… is all the more baffling since he had just left his home country to Kenya in order to escape harassment and arrest.” In May, he was charged with “spreading hate against the military,” the global watchdog said in a statement.
