— PM welcomes suo motu notice in murder, assures full cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Finally, the Islamabad police late Tuesday night registered a first information report (FIR) of the grisly murder of top investigative journalist Arshad Sharif in line with the directions of the Supreme Court.
Sharif, 50, a fierce critic of the military, died in a suspected police shooting near Kenya’s capital Nairobi on October 24.
In an FIR registered at Ramna police station of the federal capital, three accused Waqar Ahmed, Khurram Ahmed and Tariq Ahmed Wasi have been nominated.
However, the spouse of the slain journalist rejected the FIR, arguing why it was registered with Islamabad police as a complainant.
ارشد کے لواحقین ابھی زندہ ہیں صرف میری ساس کی مدعیت میں ارشد شریف شہید کا مقدمہ درج ہوگا باقی پولیس کی مدعیت میں ایف آئی آر کیوں درج ہوئی ارشد لاوارث نہیں ہے
— Javeria Siddique (@javerias) December 6, 2022
“While the heirs of Arshad [Sharif] are still alive, the FIR would be registered with my mother-in-law [mother of Arshad]. Rest, why the FIR was registered with police as the complainant? Arshad has his heirs,” she wrote in the Urdu language.
Earlier in the day, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising justices Ijaz ul-Ahsan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Muhammad Ali Mazhar — directed the government to register a first information report (FIR) of the event by tonight.
“The police report should be registered by tonight,” Justice Bandial said, as his court directed the authorities to submit a copy of the FIR to the court by Wednesday. He also sought the inquiry report of a panel formed by the government to probe the murder.
The suo motu provision allows the judge to take up cases on his own initiative.
Arshad Sharif fled Pakistan in August — first to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and later Kenya — after sedition charges were levelled against him for allegedly criticising institutions and “abetting mutiny” within the army.
His employer, ARY News, had fired Arshad in August, saying the journalist had violated its social media policy, without specifically mentioning the post. His talk show, Powerplay, which aired on Mondays and Thursdays, was discontinued.
Sharif’s family, his friends and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), including its chairman Imran Khan, have demanded a fair investigation into the murder. They claimed he was forced to leave the sheikhdom at the request of the Foreign Office. The Foreign Office has, however, dismissed the claim.
Last week, Khan penned a letter to the chief justice, requesting him to conduct an independent judicial inquiry into the assassination.
Responding to the letter, the court fixed the matter for hearing at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, according to a statement. The apex judicial forum also announced that notices have been issued to the interior, foreign, and information secretaries; bosses of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB); and the president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).
During the proceedings, the chief justice wondered why the court had not yet been provided with the report by the fact-finding committee. At this, the additional attorney general informed the court that Rana Sanaullah Khan, the minister for interior, was in Faisalabad when the report was received.
“The report will be handed over to the court once Sanaullah Khan peruses it,” he said.
“Does the interior minister have to make changes to the report?” the judge wondered, saying his court could summon the minister.
It is the government’s job to investigate the matter, not the judiciary’s, he noted.
“A journalist was killed. It should be revealed who was behind the killing,” Bandial remarked, adding the fact-finding committee which had travelled to Kenya had been back in Pakistan for some time.
“Why has the final report of the government-formed commission not been provided to the SC?” The additional attorney general said the report would be submitted by Wednesday. However, the judge told him to submit it Tuesday so the hearing could continue Wednesday.
“[We] have been waiting for the report for the past 43 days,” the judge said, terming Sharif’s medical report to be “unsatisfactory”. “We are taking the matter seriously. That is why a five-judge bench was constituted”.
Justice Ahsan remarked that Sharif was killed in Kenya under “suspicious circumstances”. “What action has the foreign ministry taken?” he asked.
Asad Majeed Khan, the foreign secretary, replied the prime minister had contacted the president of Kenya in this regard. “Pakistan’s High Commissioner in Kenya is in touch with the relevant authorities,” he said.
Justice Ahsan then asked whether it was true that a case had not yet been registered in Pakistan or in Kenya.
The foreign secretary said he was not aware whether a case had been registered in Pakistan and would check with the Kenyan authorities regarding the same.
“Why was a case of Arshad Sharif’s killing not registered?” the top judge questioned, to which the foreign secretary said a decision in this regard would be taken after the inquiry report was reviewed.
The court then asked the Foreign Office to submit a response to the court regarding the investigation and the registration of a case in Kenya.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday welcomed the development, assuring his government would extend full cooperation to the Court.
“I welcome Supreme Court taking suo moto notice of the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif,” he said in a Twitter post.
Sharif mentioned that he had already written a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan for setting up a judicial commission to probe the murder.
