Arshad Sharif’s murder was pre-planned, claims Vawda

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda held an explosive press conference on Wednesday, wherein he not only claimed that senior anchorperson Arshad Sharif’s murder was pre-planned but also warned those allegedly planning to kill him of fatal retaliation.

“If Arshad Sharif can get shot then anyone can,” he said at the National Press Club, adding that the senior anchorperson’s killing was not an accident.

The invitations for the press conference were sent out by the Press Information Department (PID), a government department responsible for arranging media events for government functionaries.

Furthermore, the press conference was telecast live on state-run Pakistan Television, where the opposition figures, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, are not given any space.

Vawda claimed that Sharif was killed under a conspiracy hatched within the country, adding that even his mobile and laptop would not be found as all “evidence has been erased”.

The PTI leader said that he had been in contact with the journalist since the day he left the country.

He denied reports of 20 shots being fired at the journalist, claiming that he was killed inside his car.

“Arshad Sharif received two bullets in his chest and head,” Vawda said. “If the child abductor was present in the car, then the driver of the car should have been shot.”

In an apparent reference to an alleged ongoing crackdown against dissidents, the PTI leader said that he has recorded a video, wherein he has cited names of those involved in the alleged conspiracy. He added that he has given the names internationally and has spent millions of dollars.

“If I die, those personalities will also be killed within three hours,” he declared. “If I am shot dead, within three hours, you will also be killed.”

He remarked that Sharif was not ready to leave the country. Rather, he was “threatened by conspiracies and expelled from here”.

He added that the government of Dubai did not expel him, and he stayed there as long as his visa allowed him to stay there. He further said that the anchorperson did not even go to London, as has been reported.

“The benefits and objectives of this conspiracy are something else,” Vawda said, without elaboration.

He said that he would uncover more details in the coming days. “I have told my family if something happens to me then as gifts you will get their bodies too,” he added.

He remarked that a normal person could not have sent the journalist to Kenya. He raised questions about the circumstances, wondering “who hid him and who was in contact with him” there. He claimed that the alleged conspirators want to break the country and his party apart.

He also claimed that Sharif was in contact with the establishment and was ready to return to the country, before “fear was set in” and his murder was allegedly planned.

He added that the key players of this alleged conspiracy were present in the country and were “internationally connected”.

However, he vindicated the establishment of any blame, saying that they had no role in this as they had “positive contact” with the anchorperson and he himself was a part of this connection.

The PTI leader said that he would take the names of the alleged conspirators in the coming days.

Regarding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) upcoming long march, Vawda said that he sees “blood and funerals” at the protest march.

“Imran Khan’s peaceful march is our right but I am clearly telling you I am seeing blood, deaths and funerals in this march,” he said.

“I will not let my Pakistanis die under a conspiracy,” he remarked, adding that he would try to end this “game of bodies”.

“Important personalities and many bodies are about to fall in the coming days,” he further said.

With input from News Desk