ISLAMABAD: The postmortem of slain journalist Arshad Sharif has been completed at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Hospital.
An eight-member board of senior doctors of PIMS conducted the post-mortem on the body instead of a six-member, said the PIMS Hospital spokesperson. The decision was taken at the request of the bereaved family and ENT surgeon and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) had been added to the team.
His funeral prayer will be offered at Faisal Masjid and Sharif will be laid to rest in Islamabad on Thursday.
A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps personnel was deployed outside the hospital.
The journalist’s body arrived in Islamabad on Qatar Airways flight QR-632 at 1am on Wednesday. The body was received by his family members. PTI leaders and members from social and journalist organizations were also present there.
“My Arshad is back,” Javeria Siddique, the widow, said in a tweet.
Officials at the airport stopped the people from making videos. Moreover, politicians and journalists visited the journalist’s house to offer condolences to the bereaved family.
Earlier, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb in her statement had said that the body was sent to Pakistan from Kenya. The legal process was expedited after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s conversation with Kenyan President William Ruto, she said. Pakistan High Commissioner to Kenya Saqlain Syedah had overseen all the matters.
A two-member investigation team instead of a three-member would probe the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif, said the new notification issued by the interior ministry.
The new committee would comprise Federal Investigation Agency Director Athar Waheed and Intelligence Bureau Director General Omar Shahid Hameed. Inter-Services Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel Saad Ahmed would not be part of the team.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was planning to demonstrate a massive show of power on the occasion and the federal government was preparing for the protest.
In order to maintain law and order, Sindh police and FC contingents have been stationed in Islamabad. Around 6,000 police personnel are staying at police line headquarters, while 2,666 FC men are being housed on the veranda of Faisal Mosque and Haji camp.
PTI chief Imran Khan announced that his much awaited long march to Islamabad begin from Lahore at 11am on Friday. Imran Khan while addressing a press conference in Lahore assured that his party’s protest would be peaceful and claimed that it would be the “biggest-ever” in the history of Pakistan.
Imran has also claimed that he advised the journalist to leave the country in view of the risk to his life. “At first, he did not listen. Then again I told him that I have information. Like, I had information about myself that those four had an agenda to kill me,” the PTI chief told the lawyers’ convention in Peshawar.
The federal government has formed a special investigation team to probe the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced the government’s decision to form a judicial commission, which would be headed by a high court judge.
Federal Investigation Agency Director Athar Waheed, Intelligence Bureau Director General Umar Shahid Hameed, and Inter-Services Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel are part of the team.
The government has ordered the team to immediately leave for Kenya where the Pakistan High Commission team would assist it. The team would submit its report to the interior ministry after completing its investigation.
The armed forces spokesperson called for a thorough investigation into the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif on Monday, moments after the military wrote a letter to the government to form an inquiry commission.
“The practice of accusing state institutions and propagating concocted stories by pinpointing the institution should be stopped,” Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lieutenant General Babar Iftikhar said in a statement.
Arshad Sharif, who left the country in August, was killed on Sunday night in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, sending shockwaves in his home country when the news broke out in the wee hours of Monday.
The police, according to a newspaper, claimed the journalist was shot dead along the Nairobi-Magadi highway on Sunday night in a case of mistaken identity.
“Arshad Sharif was shot in the head and killed by police after he and his driver allegedly breached a roadblock that had been set up to check on motor vehicles using the route. They were driving from Magadi town to Nairobi when they were flagged down at a roadblock being manned by a group of police officers,” police said.
“At the roadblock, there was a call for police to intercept a car similar to the one they were driving following a carjacking incident in Pangani area, Nairobi where a child was taken hostage. And a few minutes later, Sharif’s car emerged at the roadblock and they were stopped and asked to identify themselves,” the police said.
They allegedly failed to stop and drove past the roadblock, prompting a brief chase and shooting that left Sharif dead. “Their car rolled and his driver was injured and taken to hospital. He later told police he and his slain colleague were developers and were headed for a site in Magadi.”
Later, the police “regretted” the incident and claimed that competent authorities were investigating the incident.
Citizen TV Kenya, a news channel, reported that the incident raises several questions.
