Pakistan deploys Director of Federal Investigation Agency Athar Waheed to Nairobi

The Government of Pakistan has deployed thee senior security officers to Nairobi to probe the circumstances under which broadcaster Arshad Sharif died.

The team, was dispatched on Wednesday, October 26, led by Director of Federal Investigation Agency Athar Waheed and Deputy Director General of the Intelligence Bureau Omar Shahid Hamid.

Sharif’s death sparked widespread outrage in Pakistan, with citizens calling for an investigation.

“The team will travel to Kenya immediately. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistani High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya shall facilitate the aforementioned visit,” read a document from the Ministry of Interior in Islamabad.

Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency Athar Waheed Pulse Live Kenya

It is unclear what timelines the team will work with, but they will report to the Pakistani Interior Division.

The investigation seeks to ascertain the facts related to the murder of the journalist from the Kenya police and relevant authorities.

A document from the Ministry of Interior in Islamabad, Pakistan Pulse Live Kenya

Meanwhile, new information has emerged regarding the death of the Pakistani journalist, who was shot by GSU officers on October 23, 2022.

The police service now claims that occupants of the Toyota Landcruiser in which Sharif was riding in shot at the officers after defying an order to stop.

The initial police report did not have information on whether the car’s occupants, including the journalist and his brother Kurram Ahmed, attacked the officers.

The earlier reports explained that Sharif was killed in a case of mistaken identity after police were put on high alert over a kidnapping that had happened in Pangani, Nairobi.

Deceased Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif Pulse Live Kenya

The security officials claimed that the white Toyota Landcruiser L200 car resembled one they were pursuing over the kidnapping.

It later turned out that the vehicle involved in the kidnapping was a Mercedes Benz bearing a different number plate from the Toyota Landcruiser.

Initial police report on Arshad Sharif’s murder

In its official statement on the matter, the National Police Service (NPS) reported that Arshad's brother Khurram Ahmed who was driving refused to stop at the police roadblock around Kitengela - causing officers to suspect that the journalist and his brother had stolen the Toyota Landcruiser.

"The officers trailing the motor vehicle towards Magadi alerted the police in Magadi who erected a road barrier. The deceased's motor vehicle came upon the police barrier which they drove through. It is then that they were shot at, fatally injuring late Arshad Mohammed Shariff," a statement by NPS dated October 24, 2022, read in part.

In a statement on Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed having spoken to President William Ruto over ongoing investigations into the incident. President Ruto is yet to issue a public statement on the matter.