ISLAMABAD – Former PTI leader Faisal Vawda Monday alleged that some people within the Imran Khan-led party were involved in the murder of slain journalist Arshad Sharif.
Vawda said that the planning for the killing of the investigative journalist was carried out in Pakistan by those who could benefit from it.
Talking about one of the persons, who hosted Sharif in Kenya, Vawda said that Waqar Ahmed was his college fellow, adding that he had a property business in Karachi.
Sharif, 49, was shot dead by Kenyan police in what they claimed a case of “mistaken identity” some kilometers away from the capital city on Sunday night, while he was returning from Magadi Town.
The police of the East African country, in a statement, said they were searching for a stolen vehicle with an abducted child inside on October 23 when Sharif’s car did not stop at a checkpoint. Officers opened fire and one bullet hit the journalist in the head, leaving him dead on the spot.
Last week, Vawda claimed that slain journalist Arshad Sharif was shot at from a close range within the vehicle, adding that his murdered was pre-planned.
Addressing an explosive press conference, the former minister said that Sharif was intimidated to move out of Pakistan as he did not want to leave the country.
The investigative journalist, who was a critic of country’s establishment, moved out of Pakistan in August after sedition case was filed against him over controversial remarks made by PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in his programme on a private news channel.
Vawda said that the investigative journalist was sent to Kenya under a conspiracy, which had been hatched here in Pakistan.
He also rejected the claim that Sharif was forced to leave the United Arab Emirates (UAE), adding: “I was in contact with Arshad Sharif till last and he wanted to come back to Pakistan”. He said that he was ready for the forensic of his mobile phone record.
‘Pakistani killer squad behind Arshad Sharif’s assassination,’ says Nairobi s ex-governor
