The Pakistani government believes journalist Arshad Sharif was assassinated contrary to Kenya Police reports that it was a case of mistaken identity.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Tuesday that preliminary evidence suggests Sharif was the victim of a targeted killing in Kenya.
The Pakistani government is treating the death as an incident of murder until investigations are concluded.
Sanaullah further said the two brothers, Waqar and Khurram Ahmad, who were hosting Sharif in Kenya were not off the hook yet and would be questioned.
The brothers who are originally from Pakistan, but hold Canadian passports, also own Ammodump Kweni shooting range, where Sharif, 50, was last seen alive.
“Arshad Sharif’s death is not a case of mistaken identity – I can say, and, on the evidence we have so far, this prima facie is a targeted killing.
“It is murder and it seems to be a prima facie, the two brothers in Kenya are still not out of it. Prima facie Arshad Sharif was murdered,” the minister said.
Adding: “We still need to obtain more [evidence] to confirm all this … and we have asked the Kenyan government for more data.”
Sanaulla said the Pakistani investigating team had returned from Kenya, but Kenyan police had not yet given them all of Sharif’s recovered belongings.
“We will now ask the foreign office to contact the Kenyan government, and the prime minister will also speak to the Kenyan president,” the minister said.
The three-member team will now proceed to Dubai for further investigations. Sharif had reportedly fled for safety in Dubai before travelling to Kenya.
He is said to have flown into Kenya to escape death threats towards him over his criticism of Pakistan’s military and the government.
