Army requests govt to conduct ‘high-powered’ probe into journalist Arshad Sharif’s killing

Rawalpindi: The Pakistan Army has requested the government to conduct a “high-powered investigation” into the killing of senior journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya.

Sharif was gunned down allegedly by the Kenyan police on Sunday night, with an official police statement later expressing “regrets on the unfortunate incident” and saying an investigation was underway.

The request of inquiry came from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar on Tuesday.

Initially, Kenyan media quoted the local police as saying Sharif was shot dead by police "mistakenly".

The ISPR DG in an interview with 24 News today, condoled Sharif’s death and called for an inquiry into the killing to end speculations when asked to comment on the allegations being made against the institutions

“It is very unfortunate that people indulge in allegations. I think a thorough investigation needs to be conducted to tackle these things. I believe that the probe shouldn't just be into these things but also on why Arshad Sharif had to leave Pakistan,” the DG ISPR said.

General Iftikhar stressed that it was important to find answers to questions regarding who forced Sharif to leave Pakistan, where did he live all this time, and what were the circumstances leading to this incident.

“At all these stages unfortunately, at the end of the day, allegations are leveled and institutions are accused. So this speculation has to be put to rest and it has to come to an end.

“This is why we have requested the Government of Pakistan to take legal action against all these people who are leveling allegations without any evidence,” he added.

The ISPR DG recalled that Sharif was a very professional journalist and his programmes would be remembered as “textbook journalism”.