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ISLAMABAD, Oct. 26 (AP) Just after midnight on Wednesday, a plane carried the body of an outspoken Pakistani journalist who was shot dead by Nairobi police while he was hiding in Kenya, officials said.
Police shot and killed Arshad Sharif as his car sped past a checkpoint outside the Kenyan capital on Sunday night. Nairobi police regretted the incident, saying it was a case of “misidentification” in the search for a similar car involved in the kidnapping of children.
Sharif was travelling with another Pakistani resident, Khurram Ahmed, when their car failed to stop despite being stopped at a checkpoint – the reason for which is unclear. The police opened fire.
Sharif’s car overturned and he was shot in the head. His family in Pakistan said, based on information they received, Ahmed, who was initially identified by Nairobi police as Sharif’s brother, was not a relative, but he was the driver of the car.
Also read | Pakistan: Imran Khan to hold large protest on October 28; seeks to dissolve National Assembly, hold polls.
There is speculation that Ahmed was injured and taken to hospital, but Kenyan officials have not released any details about Ahmed’s condition or whereabouts.
The 50-year-old journalist fled Pakistan in August under life-threatening conditions. His remains were received at Islamabad airport early Wednesday by his family, friends and government officials.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Mariam Aurangzeb said a Pakistani plane took off from Kenya early on Tuesday carrying Sharif’s body and was expected to land in Pakistan late on Tuesday.
On Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, unrelated to the slain journalist, spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto about the matter. Pakistani diplomats were present at Nairobi airport when the plane carrying Sharif’s body took off. Later on Tuesday, it stopped in Doha, Qatar, before heading to Pakistan. Sharif’s family said his funeral will be held in Islamabad on Thursday.
Arshad Sharif left Pakistan in August after hiding in his country in July to avoid arrest, after a citizen filed a complaint against him for allegedly defaming the country’s state agency, referring to the military. His whereabouts have not been made public. Most of his relatives and friends only know that he has been in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and London.
A month later, Sharif’s employer, the privately owned ARY TV station, fired him, saying he violated the station’s social media policy. His talk show POWERPLAY, which aired on Mondays and Thursdays, has been discontinued.
The station remained critical of the Pakistani prime minister earlier this year after his predecessor Imran Khan was ousted in a vote of no confidence in parliament in April. Khan has claimed his deportation was part of a US-designed conspiracy, a charge both Washington and the Pakistani government have denied. Journalist Sharif has been a prominent critic of Khan’s ouster.
Khan announced on Tuesday that a convoy full of supporters would arrive in Islamabad from Lahore on Friday to pressure the government to hold snap elections, a request it had previously rejected. His announcement comes as the government struggles to provide relief to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by record-breaking floods that have killed 1,731 people since mid-June.
Earlier, Khan told a gathering of lawyers in Peshawar that he had asked the slain journalist to leave the country because his life in Pakistan was in danger. He paid a warm tribute to Sharif, saying the man had a good reputation and was one of those journalists who never succumbed to pressure.
Pakistani journalists and international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders have called for an independent investigation into Sharif’s killing, while popular Pakistani anchor Hamidmir said on Monday that Nairobi police’s statements about the incident were contradictory.
Late on Tuesday, Pakistan’s prime minister announced an investigation and promised to share its findings with the public. The military and Pakistani journalists also demanded that the government launch an investigation into the killing. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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