The Supreme Court of Pakistan has resumed hearing the suo motu notice of the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif, who was shot dead in Kenya last year.
The case is being heard by a five-member bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Jamal Mandokhel, Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar.
At the previous hearing, the top court had asked investigators to discuss with the foreign ministry the possibility of involving the United Nations in the murder probe.
It had also said that the court would not interfere in the investigation. “The court is giving freedom to the JIT for probe and the matter should be investigated transparently as the court is very serious about transparent investigation,” the bench had said.
Earlier, a 592-page fact-finding report furnished before the court concluded that the murder was a “planned targeted assassination” that purportedly involved “transnational characters”. The investigators also contested the version put forth by the Kenyan police that Mr Sharif’s killing was the “case of mistaken identity”.
The killing
Sharif had left Pakistan in August last year after a number of cases were registered against him. It was reported that he was initially staying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after which he went to Kenya, where he was shot dead.
Initially, Kenyan media had quoted the local police as saying Sharif was shot dead by police in a case of “mistaken identity”.
But later reports from the Kenyan media reconstructed the events surrounding the killing, stating that an occupant in Sharif’s car at the time of his killing was believed to have shot at paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) officers.
The Pakistan government subsequently formed a team that travelled to Kenya to investigate the killing.
from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/RWUG7LQ
0 Comments