The shot dead of senior journalist Arshad Sharif, confirmed by his wife Javeria Siddiqui early Monday, occurred in Nairobi, Kenya.
For her part, Siddiqui took to Twitter to express her grief, writing, “I lost friend, spouse, and my favourite journalist Arshad today, as per police he was shot in Kenya.”
There has been an inquiry into the shooting death of Sharif in Kenya, local media ARY News reports.
The 49-year-old has previously worked in many different newsrooms around the nation, and in March of 2019, she was honoured with the Pride of Performance award from President Arif Alvi.
He had a family that included a wife and five kids that he had to abandon.
“FO is in touch with Kenyan authorities regarding Arshad Sharif shot dead case,” said FM Bilawal
Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has mourned the journalist’s death and indicated that his country is in touch with Kenyan authorities.
Reporter Arshad Sharif’s unthinkable murder is a tragedy for Pakistan’s press. The foreign minister expressed his sympathies to Arshad Sharif’s loved ones and the media industry as a whole.
The IHC has warned the foreign and interior ministries against Arshad Sharif Shot Dead Case
The Sharif family has asked the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to appoint a commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding Sharif’s death, and the plea was submitted earlier today.
Barrister Shoaib Razzaq filed a petition asking for the establishment of a committee to investigate Sharif’s circumstances surrounding his departure from the nation. He also requested that the court provide directives for the journalist’s corpse to be returned to Pakistan.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah inquired throughout the hearing as to the whereabouts of the journalist’s corpse. The attorney then informed the court that they were in Nairobi, Kenya.
Thereafter, the judge notified the interior and foreign secretaries. Furthermore, he demanded that representatives from both departments visit the journalist’s family and give a report by tomorrow.
What led to Arshad Sharif’s Assasination
Earlier this year, journalists Arshad Sharif, Sabir Shakir, and Sami Ibrahim were the targets of a wave of suspicious first information reports (FIRs) that accused them of sedition and spreading “anti-state” propaganda.
Similar complaints were lodged with authorities in other areas throughout both Sindh and Balochistan about the journalists.
Locals have filed First Information Reports (FIRs) claiming the journalists were spreading hate speech against the Pakistani government and army.
Police in Hyderabad’s B-section filed charges against Arshad Sharif, a former anchor for ARY News.
“Hitting a nerve,” figuratively.
Rights groups, journalists, and politicians all expressed worry at the FIRs launched against the three journalists, which followed a similar pattern and included identical allegations.
The journalists and activists were alarmed by what they saw as a “planned endeavour” to stifle dissent, and they pointed out that those who were formerly in the good graces of the authorities had become “enemies of the state” for touching a “raw nerve.” this may cause shot dead of Arshad Sharif.
What The Story Behind the Assassination of Arshad Sharif
In an article published on Wednesday, renowned writer Arshad Sharif detailed the many internal and external variables that contribute to what Imran Khan claims is a US-backed plot to overthrow his administration.
A speech given at a conference titled “Regime Change Conspiracy and Pakistan’s Destabilization.” Sharif said that the United States did not make contact with the PTI government despite attempts by former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. However, as Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took office as foreign minister, talks were restarted.
Sharif said that the press has not yet questioned whether or not the decision came from the White House or the US NSC. President Joe Biden, who was involved in the Project for a New American Century that paved the way for several US-backed regime-change operations across the globe after 2001, including in Iraq, may have made the choice at the state level, he continued.
When asked about what’s happening on the inside, he said it all boils down to self-centered people and organisations with their own political agendas. As in, “Who makes decisions for Pakistan? Is it simply institutions with inflated senses of self-importance that we’re going to ignore, or do we also plan to ignore people with egos?
Was Imran Khan looking out for Pakistan’s best interests, or those of the people? How did the media influence the plot to replace the government and how did those stories play out? People and organisations were in charge, while the media ignored national interests.
He said that lawfare, the use of law for political objectives, was employed in this regime-change operation and that the press widely covered the occurrence.
Sharif, echoing President Dr. Arif Alvi’s position, stated we must identify “the smoking pistol in the hand of the conspirator” in the cases of the murders of Liaquat Ali Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, as well as the removal of Imran Khan.
Sharif has pointed out a bigger trend, claiming that the United States had vested interests in the area at the time each of the three martial laws was enacted (1958, 1978, and 1999). It was said that Liaquat Ali Khan had been killed around two weeks before he was scheduled to go to Russia.
During the height of the cold war, Pakistan allegedly joined SEATO and CENTO and aligned itself with the United States. In the future, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was toppled in a military coup by his nominated army leader Zia-ul-Haq, who then had him convicted unfairly and put to death in 1978.
He said in 1999 that US invasions against Iraq, Libya, and Syria were already in the works. According to him, the TTP infiltrated Pakistan and drove the country into a terrorist conflict. As he put it, Pakistan’s nuclear weapon prevented an invasion.
He said that things changed when Pakistan joined the fight against terrorism under the Musharraf administration. He said that public upheavals, such as the formation of the PPP or the Lawyers Movement, were responsible for the fall of each regime. Yet, he insisted that a mix of democratic principles was inevitable.
He singled out the years 2018–2022, calling them a watershed in Pakistani politics because of the “authoritarian consolidation” and increased transparency that they brought about. However, the accountability process was halted when Maryam Nawaz mentioned “videos” at a news conference, and Nawaz Sharif was exiled to the United Kingdom.
Blackmailing media with bogus videos: PML-N leader Shahbaz Gill
He stated the media’s tactic of “disrupt, discredit, and deny” against the PTI administration was important in framing the narrative during the regime-change plot.
He asked, “Who ordered a police vehicle to be stationed outside the PM residence when Imran Khan was ejected from office late at night after losing a no-confidence vote?” before clarifying that the then-interior minister, Sheikh Rashid, had not made such decision.
In his criticism of the Red Zone Files, Sharif said that the arguments in print and electronic media during the “regime change” operation centred on institutions and people rather than on the constitutional framework or economic norms. To what extent do we prefer that the people of this nation be governed by law or by their own whims and caprices?
According to the journalist, on either April 9 or 10, the media was ordered to stop giving PTI any coverage, and those journalists who spoke out were fired, including Imran Riaz Khan.
He said that individuals who filed the FIRs against the journalists and PTI members were using a tried-and-true strategy. The issue, he continued, is that prosecutors are forced to file terrorist accusations because they can’t discover the corruption cases.
In response to an offer to host a programme on Imran Khan’s alleged corruption, Sharif reportedly remarked, “Imran Khan did not even squander half a bottle of water, how can you expect to discover or accuse corruption cases against him?
Conclusion
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) termed it a “long, grim record of violent tactics to silence journalists”. It urged the government to pursue an immediate, transparent inquiry into the circumstances of Sharif’s death. For more informative blogs like this please subscribe Park Green City
