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Police in Islamabad registered a first information report (FIR) on Tuesday against the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif—over a month after he was killed in Kenya—on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The FIR, registered on the complaint of Ramna Police Station House Officer Rasheed Ahmed, nominated three people—Waqar Ahmed, Khurram Ahmed, Tariq Ahmed Wasi—as well as unnamed individuals as the accused. It was finally registered after the Supreme Court directed the government to provide it with the FIR and submit a preliminary report into the murder prepared by a two-member fact-finding committee.
The FIR notes that the slain journalist’s body was brought to Islamabad from Kenya. It states that a post-mortem examination was conducted by a medical board, which had provided Ramna police with five sealed parcels including one containing a bullet, and the body had been handed over to the family. It said an inquiry had been launched at a “senior level” due to the crime occurring outside Pakistan, adding that legal proceedings under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code were in progress.
Taking suo motu notice of Sharif’s killing, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial headed a five-member bench comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, and Muhammad Ali Mazhar on Tuesday afternoon and commenced hearings into the case. “The journalist community of the country and the public at large are deeply distressed and concerned about the death of the senior journalist and are seeking the court’s scrutiny of the matter,” read a statement issued by the apex court on the suo motu notice.
The development was hailed by both the government and the opposition, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif noting he had already written to the CJP seeking a judicial commission to probe the murder. “The government will extend full cooperation to the court,” he added in a posting on Twitter. Similarly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice-President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain welcomed the court action, noting the public expected judges to protect fundamental human rights.
However, Sharif’s widow Javeria Siddique criticized the FIR, saying it should not have been lodged on the complaint of police. In a posting on Twitter, she asked when a case would be registered on the complaint of the deceased’s family members.
First day’s proceedings
During the first day’s proceeding, Justice Ahsan questioned how an investigation could commence until an FIR had been registered. “We have been waiting 43 days for the report,” CJP Bandial added.
Appearing in court, Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar said a fact-finding committee constituted by the government had submitted its report to the federal government, which would be submitted before the court after it had been reviewed by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the prime minister.
Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed, meanwhile, apprised the court of efforts to retrieve the body from Kenya and pursue the investigation, noting that the Pakistani High Commissioner in Kenya was in touch with relevant authorities. However, he said he needed to seek additional details about the progress made in the investigation.
Wrapping up proceedings, the bench directed the interior secretary to place a copy of the FIR before the court, and the additional attorney general to submit the fact-finding report. The foreign secretary was also asked to submit a report on the “ongoing Kenyan investigation.”
Sharif was killed on Oct. 23 near Nairobi, with police in Kenya claiming it had been a case of “mistaken identity.” However, subsequent investigations have raised questions over this claim, with the fact-finding committee comprising representatives of the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) submitting a report suggesting Sharif was shot at close range and the role of transnational actors could not be ruled out.