Islamabad: The government has decided to constitute a judicial commission headed by a judge of the high court to probe the murder of senior anchorperson Arshad Sharif who was shot dead in Kenya Sunday night.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced that a judicial commission would be formed to probe the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif by the Kenyan police.
“The commission would be responsible for determining the facts of the “tragic incident in a transparent and conclusive manner,” said the PM in a tweet.
Body on way from Kenya
Meanwhile, an international airline carrying the body of Arshad Sharif left Nairobi for Islamabad.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sharif’s body was dispatched from Nairobi to Doha by the Qatar Airways’ Flight QR1342 on Tuesday.
The plane will arrive in Islamabad on Wednesday late in the night while his funeral prayers will be offered the next day (Thursday), said a member of Arshad Sharif’s family.
The process of returning the body from Nairobi Airport was supervised by Saqlain Saida, the High Commissioner of Pakistan in Kenya.
The daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, is facing criticism for re-tweeting a controversial tweet in which the picture of Arshad Sharif’s coffin is shown being loaded on the plane.
The caption says in Urdu that Arshad Sharif mocked the death of Maryam Nawaz’ mother Kulsoom when her body was being dispatched from London to Lahore.
While re-tweeting, Maryam admits she was not feeling good while re-tweeting but “this is a lesson for mankind that we must imbibe.”
Maryam’s tweet has drawn the wrath of a large number of netizens. Her critics include not only the sympathisers of Arshad Sharif, his family members, journalists and friends but also those impartial critics who have been in disagreement with the murdered journalist’s point of view.
Veteran journalist Mujibur Rehman Shami also expressed his shock over her tweet and demanded her not only to withdraw it but also apologise for sharing such an insensitive post.
In reply to Maryam’s tweet, Arshad Sharif’s widow Javeria Siddique posted a number of tweets by her late husband in which she and her husband had condoled the death of Maryam Nawaz’ mother. Javeria asked Maryam to fear God.
Senior anchorperson Kamran Yousaf called her remarks highly insensitive and condemnable. “If some insane people were insensitive to your mother’s illness and death that doesn’t justify this tweet,” said Yousaf.
IHC wants govt to take journalists on board
The Islamabad High Court (IHC), while hearing a petition seeking formation of a judicial commission for probe into Arshad Sharif’s murder on Tuesday, directed the government to keep journalist bodies on board in the investigation process.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah reminded the government of the court’s previous orders wherein directions were issued to government officials to visit the heirs of the slain journalist.
Petitioner Shoaib Razzaq requested the court that a judicial commission must be formed to probe the death of Sharif.
Justice Minallah remarked that journalists’ organizations should be kept on board with the inquiry, and the formation of the commission at this stage would not serve any purpose.
