Who killed Arshad Sharif?

KARACHI: On Sunday morning, Pakistanis woke up to the shocking news that prominent journalist Arshad Sharif was shot dead in Kenya. The 49-year-old outspoken journalist was known for being against the Shareef regime as well as being anti-military and had fled to Kenya after charges were filed against him.

Arshad Sharif had fled the country in August to avoid arrest. The charges, which included sedition, had been levied against him after the disastrous ARY interview with Shahbaz Gill, a close aide of Imran Khan, who was accused of making offensive comments about the military. Sharif had claimed that the state and its institutions were harassing and threatening him and he first moved to Dubai but later relocated to Kenya. Sharif was also a part of the documentary Behind Closed Doors which aimed to uncover the corruption by the current regime in Pakistan over the years.

As per Kenyan authorities, Sharif’s death was a case of mistaken identity when the car he was travelling in was fired upon by police after it failed to stop at a checkpoint. The reports also claimed that the car he was traveling in was similar to one that was being tracked in a kidnapping case.

The news of his death was confirmed by his wife Javeria who tweeted, “I lost friend, husband and my favourite journalist today, as per police he was shot in Kenya.”

Many close friends and supporters of Arshad Sharif took to social media to express their shock and grief over the murder, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

However, it seems not everyone was as aggrieved as others. Maryam Nawaz drew in criticism for what people deemed to be a tone deaf tweet about Arshad Sharif and his death. In a now deleted tweet, she wrote that the journalist’s death is a “lesson for the mankind.”

However, she eventually deleted the tweet and clarified her stance later.

While Pakistan mourns the loss of a brave journalist who did not shy away from speaking the truth, a major question remains: Who killed Arshad Sharif?