Conflicting Details Emerge About the Pakistani Journalist Assassination
According to reports made by a team of Pakistani investigators in the October killing of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kajiado county, new details about the incident have emerged weeks after Kenya police issued their findings.
Leah Mukangai 
According to the Pakistani investigators, the killing of the journalist turned out to be a 'planned assassination' as opposed to what the Kenya police claimed. According to the Kenya police, the event was a case of mistaken identity that happened as they searched for a car that was involved in an abduction.
“This was a planned, targeted assassination … rather than a case of mistaken identity,” the report stated.
From the new reports made, the bullet that killed the late Arshad Sharif was fired from either a close range or inside the car that he was in.
Two Pakistani officials had traveled to Kenya as part of the investigation, where they met with police and Sharif's hosts, brothers Khurram and Waqar.
Khurram told investigators that he was in the car with Sharif at the time of the shooting, on his way home after dinner. They passed through the roadblock, which Khurram suspected was set up by robbers, and he heard the fatal gunshots.
The late Arshad Sharif's car. PHOTO FILE
Khurram stated that he then called his brother, who advised him to continue driving until they arrived at the family's farmhouse, which was about 20 kilometers away. When the brothers arrived at the house, Sharif was already dead.
Because no bullet marks were found on Sharif's car seat, Khurram's statements were found to be contradictory to the facts.
According to Pakistani media, the Kenyan police were apparently "used as instruments" in the killing, possibly in exchange for financial or other compensation - again, without elaborating or providing evidence to support the accusation.
It made no specific accusations, only speculating that individuals in Kenya, Dubai, or Pakistan may have played a role in the slaying.
The 50-year-old journalist was living in exile after fleeing the country in August to avoid arrest in the aftermath of multiple cases, including sedition charges, filed against him for comments made on his show that was deemed offensive to the military.
Sharif had stayed in Dubai after leaving Pakistan in August before heading to Kenya.
