Arshad Sharif killing: Two-member investigation team reaches Dubai

The team will determine facts surrounding the murder of prominent journalist

RAWALPINDI:

A two-member investigation team of Pakistani officials on Monday reached the United Arab Emirates to determine the facts surrounding the killing of senior journalist Arshad Sharif.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the team will investigate Sharif's arrival in Dubai and the time spent there.

They said that the two-member team comprising Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Headquarters Director Athar Waheed and Intelligence Bureau (IB) Deputy Director Umar Shahid Hamid presented their report to the interior ministry following their visit to Kenya, where Sharif was murdered last month.

Later, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, during a press conference, said that evidence suggested the prominent Pakistani journalist was the victim of a targeted killing, not an accidental shooting, though he still needed more information on the incident.

Sana told the media on Tuesday: "Arshad Sharif's death is not a case of mistaken identity – I can say, and, on the evidence we have so far, this prima facie is a target killing."

Read more: Sana says Arshad Sharif killed in ‘targeted attack’

"We still need to obtain more (evidence) to confirm all this ... and we have asked the Kenyan government for more data," he added.

The government had formed an investigation team to look into the matter, which caused uproar in the country. The minister said the team had returned from Kenya, but Kenyan police had not yet given Pakistani investigators all of Sharif's recovered belongings.

"We will now ask the foreign office to contact the Kenyan government, and the prime minister will also speak to the Kenyan president," the minister said.

Insiders said that the Pakistani officials have reached the United Arab Emirates and started the investigation.

The team, they said, will investigate the journalist's arrival, contacts, stay in Dubai and departure to Kenya.

Sharif was shot dead on the outskirts of Kenya's Nairobi city on October 23. His death sent shock waves across rights organisations, the media fraternity and civil society and prompted calls for thorough investigation and disclosure of facts.