NAIROBI: The five Kenyan policemen involved in the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif have quietly resumed their official duties.
According to news reports, the five cops involved in the fatal shootout have returned to work and two of them have been promoted to senior ranks in Kenyan police.
The five police officers enjoying full police benefit and their suspensions have turned out to be a whitewash by Kenyan authorities while the investigation into the incident has slowed down.
Kenya’s Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA), the body tasked with investigating the conduct of police officers, has not made its findings public in over nine months.
It has been revealed that a police officer attached to the General Service Unit (GSU) who was allegedly shot at the scene where Arshad Sharif was killed, went back to work immediately after being released from hospital.
He had claimed that he suffered a gunshot when bullets were fired from inside Arshad Sharif’s vehicle but the forensic investigation denied his claims.
Arshad Sharif arrived in Nairobi on August 20 and was shot dead on October 23. He stayed at the guest house of Karachi-based businessman Waqar Ahmad, whose brother Khurram Ahmad was driving him when he was killed
The news report said that the National Police Service (NPS) in Kenya slowed down the investigation of Arshad Sharif’s killing because it involved its members.
It has also emerged that the family of Waqar Ahmed and Khurram Ahmed had already demanded to be given back their motor vehicle in which the journalist died.
Arshad Sharif’s family has instructed the former judge Shaukat Siddiqui to take up the slain journalist’s case for justice. He said Kenyan authorities did not cooperate in accordance with the sensitivity of the crime
Both Khurram and Waqar have denied any involvement in Arshad Sharif’s murder. They remain in Kenya and have not returned to Pakistan ever since the killing of Arshad Sharif.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan is hearing a case to ascertain the circumstances in which the journalist left the country and was killed. The court has been informed that Kenya has now cooperated with Pakistan and efforts are being made to sign a treaty for mutual cooperation.
Caretaker premier Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar will visit Kenya next month at the invitation of Kenyan President William Ruto.
