By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has directed the government to register a first information report (FIR) pertaining to the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif by tonight (Tuesday).
Umar Ata Bandial, Chief Justice of Pakistan issued the orders during hearing of a suo motu notice taken earlier on Tuesday, pertaining to the journalist’s killing in Kenya. A five-member bench comprising CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard the case.
At the outset of the hearing, the Chief Justice asked Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman about the report of the fact-finding committee. He said since receiving a letter from the mother of Arshad Sharif, the apex court HR cell was investigating the matter and added the Interior Ministry had to submit a report of the fact-finding committee last Friday. He said the court is yet to receive the report. “Should we summon the interior minister? Where is the interior minister?” asked the CJP.
At this, the Additional Attorney General informed the court that the report will be submitted tomorrow (Wednesday). The Chief Justice stated that the medical report the court received was “unsatisfactory”.
Background of Arshad Sharif case
The senior journalist Arshad Sharif was killed on the night of October 23 in Kenya reportedly by the Kenyan GSU officers under mysterious circumstances as he was being driven to Nairobi.
Earlier in the day, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial took suo moto notice of the brutal killing of the renowned investigative journalist.
The Chief Justice also issued notice to Secretary Interior, Secretary Foreign Affairs, Secretary Information and Broadcasting, DG (FIA), DG (IB) and President PFUJ and fixed the matter for the day (6th December 2022) at 12:30 pm before a five-member larger bench to be headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
