Arshad Sharif's death is muddier, shows role of Pak Army in connivance with Kenya Death Squads
Oct 28, 2022
Geneva [Switzerland], October 28 : The killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya reveals the unholy nexus of Pakistan army and Kenyan Death Squads.
Arshad Sharif's murder is a lot more than what is being revealed by both the Pakistani and the Kenyan government, analysts are divided over whether the incident is an accident or another victim of Pakistan's deep state operations? reported The Geneva Daily.
Pakistan army's links with the organized criminals of the Muslim world are also no secret. Given the deep penetration that a lot of these gang lords who find refuge in Pakistan have in a lot of these African countries, including Kenya, could it be possible that Arshad Sharif's murder is a lot more than what is being revealed by both the Pakistani and the Kenyan government?
Arshad Sharif (49), a senior Pakistani journalist was killed in cold blood on 24 October in Kenya when he was driving from Magadi to Nairobi, accompanied by his brother Khurram Ahmed at around 10:00 pm.
Initial reports suggested that he was shot dead in his forehead by a Kenyan sniper from the Kenyan police. Soon these reports were denounced as being fake when the Kenyan police itself came out with a statement asserting the correct sequence of events, reported The Geneva Daily.
Released on their official Twitter handle, the statement claimed that the killing was a case of 'mistaken identity' by the General Service Unit (GSU) officers. In the official statement, it was mentioned that the incident followed a circulation from the Pangani Police of a stolen motor vehicle.
As per claims, the officers who were trailing the motor vehicle towards Magadi had alerted the Magadi police who had subsequently erected a road barrier. Arshad Sharif's motor vehicle had tried to drive through this makeshift barrier and was at that time shot at by the police, leading to his death, reported The Geneva Daily.
A Kenyan journalist pointed out the many loopholes that exist in the police's official statement. First of all, how is driving through a makeshift barrier reason enough to shoot at a vehicle where the presence of civilians is confirmed.
Moreover, as evidence later showed, the car was shot at from all directions, with 9 bullet marks being found on the car. It seemed quite obvious that the shooting was not intended at stopping the vehicle but was more of an ambush, intended at killing whoever was in the car.
Lastly, it has been observed that a majority of the bullets were targeted at that side of the car where Sharif was sitting, thus, making a case for a planned assassination rather than an accident, reported The Geneva Daily.
If there is even a semblance of truth in the analysis, it begs the next big question, that is, why would anyone want to kill a Pakistani journalist in Kenya? And, perhaps, even before that, why was he in Kenya at all? This entire scenario is muddier than is being allowed to be revealed.
A day after Sharif was killed, former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko made a statement insisting that the Kenyan police should not be blamed for the death of the journalist.
According to his claims, while the shootings indeed were carried out by the Kenyan police, they were 'tricked' into believing that Sharif was involved in a motor vehicle theft.
The governor claims that the journalist for the past few days was being followed by a 'Pakistani killer squad' because of an investigation that he was doing to expose certain people in the current Pakistan establishment and the deep state involvement in a money-laundering syndicate. This syndicate allegedly also operates some car showrooms in Nairobi and Mombasa, reported The Geneva Daily.
Arshad Sharif had left Pakistan in August this year, soon after news of his harassment by the Pakistani police surfaced, including reports of an FIR that was filed against him and ARY news, where he worked, blaming him for making anti-state statements.
After Sharif fled Pakistan, he was soon fired from the news agency ARY Network on flimsy grounds. It is speculated that this decision was made by the agency at the behest of the Pakistani government.
This is not the first time that the Kenyan police have been under the radar for extra-judicial killings. Al Jazeera's investigative documentary called 'Inside Kenya's Death Squads', we have people from within the Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) confirming that cold-blooded assassinations are often carried out on government orders and sometimes, even for money, reported The Geneva Daily.