'Arshad Sharif was apparently forced to leave UAE'

ISLAMABAD: The fact-finding committee, formed to probe the killing of senior journalist Arshad Sharif, has revealed in its report that the former ARY News anchorperson was apparently forced to leave United Arab Emirates (UAE), ARY News reported on Tuesday.

According to details, the revelation was made by the fact-finding committee in a report submitted to Secretary of Interior. The committee had traveled to Kenya and Dubai to probe Arshad Sharif’s movements and his killing.

After the investigation, the committee prepared a report which was then submitted to the Secretary of Interior.

In the report, the committee revealed that the slain journalist was forced to leave Pakistan due to the threats associated with the cases registered against him, pointing out that the cases were against the rules and regulations.

Read More: Arshad Sharif’s killing: CJP Bandial orders to register case till evening

The report also dismissed the view that Arshad Sharif was killed due to mistaken identity, claiming the journalist’s murder had been planned. It also revealed that the anchorperson was apparently forced to leave United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The committee, in its report, stated that former federal minister Faisal Vawda had not submitted his statement or evidence despite being summoned by the authorities.

“Faisal Vawda did not even submit the answers to the questionnaire, forwarded by the committee,” it added. Most of the fact-finding report consists of interviews with people.

Meanwhile, the report also revealed that only two out of nine plaintiffs of first information reports, registered against the journalist, appeared before the committee.

The report stated that the cases against ARY News and Arshad Sharif were not registered as per the rules and were not approved by the government.

Earlier on December 3, the investigation committee, formed to probe the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif, submitted the inquiry report to Secretary of Interior.

Sources told ARY News that the inquiry committee’s report consists of more than 400 pages. Information from Kenya and Dubai are also included in report, they added.

Arshad Sharif’s assassination

The senior journalist and former ARY News anchor, was killed in Kenyan capital Nairobi on October 23 where he was living in self-exile.

Kenyan police first said that Arshad Sharif was killed in a case of “mistaken identity” but since the seasoned journalist’s post-mortem and his body’s transfer to his home country, several Kenyan news outlets have not only questioned the police’s conduct but have raised questions over the manner in which he was killed.