Journalist Arshad Sharif reportedly died in Kenya after being shot, according to his wife Javeria Siddique, who made the announcement early on Monday.
“I lost friend, husband and my favorite journalist [Arshad Sharif] today, as per police he was shot in Kenya,” she tweeted.
I lost friend, husband and my favourite journalist @arsched today, as per police he was shot in Kenya.
Respect our privacy and in the name of breaking pls don’t share our family pics, personal details and his last pictures from hospital.
Remember us in ur prayers. pic.twitter.com/wP1BJxqP5e— Javeria Siddique (@javerias) October 24, 2022
Asim Iftikhar, a spokesman for the Foreign Office, stated that the Pakistan High Commission in Kenya was gathering information from the authorities.
The journalist’s death and the circumstances surrounding it have not yet been officially confirmed by authorities in either nation. Initially reporting that Sharif was shot to death, some Pakistani media agencies later claimed he passed away in an accident.
Later, Arshad Sharif’s wife tweeted that the journalist had been killed by gunfire in Kenya.
In the meantime, local police were quoted by Kenyan media as reporting that Sharif was killed by police in an incident of “mistaken identity.” According to the report, the event happened on Sunday night near the Nairobi-Magadi highway.
Sharif, a vocal opponent of the country’s establishment and the current administration, departed Pakistan earlier this year after sedition cases were brought against him in various places.
Athar Minallah, Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), gave the order to speak with the journalist’s family right away while hearing a plea calling for an investigation into Sharif’s death.
The federal and interior secretaries received notices from the court, and their respective ministries were ordered to produce reports by tomorrow.
In his plea, Advocate Shoaib Razzaq asked the court to mandate the creation of a judicial commission to look into the circumstances behind the journalist’s forced flight from Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates.
“The judicial commission may also be directed to liaison with national agencies and the Kenyan agencies and probe into the heinous act which had led to the unwarranted cold-blooded murder of Arshad Sharif,” the petition stated.
Additionally, it asked the court to order the journalist’s body to be sent to Pakistan.
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