Slain anchor’s mother wants PTI chief quizzed

Mother of Arshad Sharif has requested the Supreme Court to order a joint investigation team (JIT) probing into her son’s assassination to quiz the people, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, who claimed to know who hatched conspiracy to murder the celebrated journalist.

Sharif’s mother on Thursday moved a civil miscellaneous application (CMA) in the apex court contending that the JIT should conduct investigation first in Pakistan “where conspiracy to kill my son was hatched.”

“That is a matter of record that so many people have been found claiming about the persons who are involved in the conspiracy and the execution of the murder.”

She said six people—PTI chief, former ministers Faisal Vawda and Murad Saeed, media tycoon Salman Iqbal and journalist Imran Riaz Khan—need to join the investigation in order to collect evidence against the real perpetrators.

The petitioner said she and her counsel have neither been given access to a fact finding report nor the report of the JIT and have been “kept in the dark about the persons who joined investigation of the case.”

Sharif, a recipient of the Pride of Performance award who specialised in investigative journalism, was shot and killed by Kenyan police on October 23, 2022, in what was described as a case of mistaken identity.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on December 7, 2022 took suo motu notice of the “brutal killing of senior journalist” and the government on December 8 informed a five-judge bench led by CJP Bandial that it had formed a JIT to probe into the murder.

Read SC hints at forming JC in Arshad’s killing case

The special JIT was led by Islamabad Police DIG Awais Ahmed and comprised Muhammad Aslam from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI); Murtaza Afzal from the Military Intelligence (MI), Waqaruddin Syed from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)  and Sajid Kayani from the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Last month, the bench had expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of the team’s investigation. It had noted that it would take alternative routes if the JIT failed to make solid progress by the next date of hearing—June 13.

Commenting on the progress report submitted by the JIT, CJP Bandial had said the JIT swung into action just a day before the hearing of the case.

Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi had asked if the JIT had collected any evidence so far. “We have serious reservations about the JIT’s pace of investigation. And we are serious in getting this case investigated.”

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan had told the court that the JIT received a letter from the United Arab Emirates on April 11 and that it replied to the letter on April 29.

Sharif, who had left Pakistan for the UAE fearing arrest, was allegedly asked by the UAE authorities to leave the Gulf state, according to some reports. He had later moved to Kenya where he was killed.

Justice Naqvi noted that the JIT has shared 20 mobile phone numbers with Kenyan authorities and requested it to share WhatsApp records belonging to these numbers. “Where did the JIT get these numbers from?”

The AGP told the bench that the fact finding report—earlier compiled by a two-member team—had mentioned these numbers. “All these phone numbers belong to the people who were present at the crime scene [on Oct 23],” he said, adding that the JIT would leave for the UAE and Kenya on May 17.