Prominent Pakistani Journalist Arshad Sharif Killed in Kenya
Arshad Warsi hosted popular show Power Play and had been affiliated with the ARY channel for the past eight years before he was sacked in August Photo: AP
Prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was murdered on the outskirts of Nairobi at the hands of the Kenyan police on Sunday, Oct. 23. Sharif had sought refuge in Kenya after he left Pakistan in August, fearing for his life.
The Kenyan Police have termed the incident a “mistaken identity,” stating that a car with a license plate number similar to the one Sharif was sitting in had reportedly been stolen and was linked with a child kidnapping case. According to their version of events, Sharif’s driver allegedly refused to stop at the police checkpoint, after which the paramilitary forces, who were deployed in the area, fired at the car.
Arshad Sharif, a staunch supporter of ex-prime minister Imran Khan, had been a vociferous critic of both the government headed by current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the military, which is speculated to have played a role in Shahbaz Sharif’s accession. According to reports before his death, Arshad Sharif had also been working on a documentary uncovering the corruption of Shahbaz Sharif’s family.
Unsurprisingly, Arshad Sharif’s stance landed him in trouble. Earlier this year, the Pakistan police slammed sedition charges on Sharif for “abetting mutiny” after he aired his interview with Dr. Shahbaz Gill, a senior leader from Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
Soon after, Sharif’s news channel, ARY, where he had been working for the past eight years and hosting the popular show Power Play, decided to let him go. The ARY insinuated that Sharif had posted something on social media which breached their regulations. Still, they left out any specifications about the posts in question and the policies Sharif had allegedly flouted. Fearing heavy backlash, Sharif left for the UAE in August; however, still facing persecution by Pakistani officials, he later fled to Kenya, which has visa-on-arrival for Pakistani citizens.
Imran Khan has labeled Sharif’s death as a “targeted killing,” describing the slain journalist as a “brave patriot who never compromised his conscience” and “never spared any mafia.” PM Shahbaz Sharif was also quick to condemn the murder. On Oct. 24, he tweeted that he had spoken with his counterpart in Kenya to ensure a thorough investigation. He also constituted a committee with members of civilian and federal investigative agencies to probe the shooting. Attesting to the deceased journalist’s popularity, 15,000 people congregated at the Faisal Mosque on Thursday to attend his funeral in Islamabad.
Pakistan ranks amongst the lowest countries in World Press Freedom Index where journalistic freedom is under threat Photo: Statista/ Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index
Sharif’s death is not the first time political institutions in Pakistan have been suspected of eliminating voices of dissent. Back in July 2020, Anwar Jan, a journalist reporting for Naveed-e-Pakistan, was gunned down in Balochistan. His family alleges that the Balochistani Awami Party leader Abdul Rehman Khretan’s bodyguard murdered him after Jan exposed Khretan’s corruption.
However, in recent years matters concerning journalistic freedom have only been growing from bad to worse in both Pakistan and South Asia at large. In 2022, Pakistan fell by 12 ranks in the World Press Freedom Index, securing the 157th position out of the 180 countries surveyed, and India dropped to its personal worst at 150. Nepal remained the only outlier, outperforming its previous rank of 106 in 2021 and leaping straight ahead to the 76th position.