By Muhammad Muteeullah
ISLAMABAD: A special Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been formed to investigate the killing of late journalist Arshad Sharif, the federal government informed the Supreme Court during the hearing of Sharif’s murder case on Thursday.
The court was informed that the late journalist’s mother was contacted on Wednesday to record her statement but she could not do so owing to illness.
High-profile JIT to probe the murder
The new Joint Investigation Team includes representatives from Islamabad Police, Federal Investigation Agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and Military Intelligence.
The federal government submitted the names of new Joint Investigation Team members – DIG Islamabad Owais Ahmed, Director Cybercrime FIA Waqaruddin Syed, Sajid Kayani from Intelligence Bureau, Murtaza Afzal from Military Intelligence and Mohammad Aslam from Inter-Services Intelligence – before the court.
The Additional Attorney General said that Interpol would also be contacted to arrest the accused if found necessary. He said that all officers in the Joint Investigation Team were of grade twenty.
The Chief Justice remarked that the foreign ministry gave good suggestions in its report. Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar inquired about the time required to complete the probe, to which the Additional Attorney General replied that the investigation would depend on the cooperation of the Kenyan police.
He said the investigation team would make every possible effort to complete the work soon. The Supreme Court directed the JIT to submit a progress report every two weeks. The hearing of the case has been adjourned till the first week of January.
