The Pakistani government has sent three intelligence officials to probe the mysterious killing of journalist Arshad Sharif who police claim to have accidentally shot dead on Sunday night while pursuing an alleged stolen vehicle in Kajiado County.
The three are Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency Director Athar Waheed, the Deputy Director-General of the Intelligence Bureau Omar Shahid Hamid, and Lt. Colonel Saad Ahmed.
According to a notice from Pakistani’s Interior ministry dated Tuesday, October 26, the team will travel to Kenya immediately and submit its report to the ministry.
“In pursuance of Prime Minister’s office, the following team is constituted to ascertain the facts related to the murder of senior journalist Arshad Sharif,” it reads
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistan’s High Commission in Nairobi shall facilitate the aforementioned visit,” the notice adds.
The circumstances under which Sharif was killed remains clouded in mystery, after it was established that the alleged stolen vehicle that police were pursuing is a Mercedes Benz Sprinter van registration number KDJ 700F while the one the Pakistani journalist was travelling in is a Toyota Landcruiser V8 registration number KDJ 200M.
Prior to the shooting, a man identified as Douglas Wainaina is said to have reported to detectives at Pangani Police Station that he had left his car in a parking at Ngara area with his son inside, but upon returning to where he had left the vehicle, he could not find it.
According to police, after tracking the vehicle they found that it was within Kiserian area in Kajiado County prompting them to alert their counterparts.
The Pakistani journalist would later be killed under a hail of bullets fired by GSU officers who had mounted a roadblock in pursuit of the alleged stolen car.
In what police termed as a case of mistaken identity, the GSU officers fired nine bullets at the Toyota Landcruiser in which the journalist was travelling in alongside his brother who was the driver.
And in a surprise turn of events, the vehicle that was being traced would later be found by police at a petrol station in Kiserian, with Mr. Wainaina’s 26-year-old son Duncan on the steering wheel.
On Tuesday, the son was presented in court for driving without a license, but his father who was the complainant through, lawyer Elisha Ndemo, withdrew the case.
Meanwhile, the body of Sharif was airlifted to Pakistan for burial, with his family calling for justice.
