Islamabad court once again issues non-bailable arrest warrants for Arshad Sharif's wife

An Islamabad court on Saturday once again issued non-bailable arrest warrants for slain journalist Arshad Sharif’s wife due to her failure to record her statement despite repeated orders. 

Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah heard the Arshad Sharif murder case on Saturday but his wife Samia Arshad did not appear before the court to record her statement. As a result, the court once again issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Arshad’s wife and TV producer Ali Usman. 

The court has been summoning Arshad Sharif’s wife and producer Ali Usman for a long time to record their statements, but they did not appear before the court. Initially, the court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for them on June 19, 2023. 

Arshad was killed in Kenya in October last year. The police had initially described the killing as a case of ‘mistaken identity’.

However, calls for an investigation inside Pakistan grew stronger after claims that Arshad had left Pakistan because he feared for his life. The Supreme Court of Pakistan took a suo motu notice of the case and formed a joint investigation team, which even went to Kenya to collect facts. However, there has been no progress on this case so far.