Imran claims Arshad Sharif killed in ‘targeted attack’

PESHAWAR: Paying tribute to slain journalist and anchorperson Arshad Sharif, former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday claimed he was killed in a “targeted attack.”

Arshad Sharif was gunned down in Kenya allegedly by the local police on Sunday night, though the police later in a statement expressed their regrets on what they called an “unfortunate incident.” The local media in Kenya had initially quoted the local police as saying that Arshad Sharif was shot dead by the police in an incident of “mistaken identity”.

The frequent change of statements by the police in Kenya has created doubts in the minds of people back home. However, the former prime minister in Peshawar claimed that Arshad Sharif’s life was in danger and called his death a “targeted killing”. He called him a martyr. Speaking to the lawyers at a convention here, Imran Khan said Arshad Sharif knew that his life was in danger and was constantly receiving warnings.

Besides other PTI leaders, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former governor Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan also attended the event. It was the first time Imran had visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after winning three National Assembly seats from Mardan, Charsadda and Peshawar.

“I had asked him to back down but he didn’t. He wasn’t scared of warnings and continued his work as a professional independent journalist, but finally he was target-killed,” Imran Khan said. He added it didn’t matter what people said, but he knew he was target-killed.

The PTI chief praised Arshad Sharif for his bravery and remembered him in the best possible words, saying he never compromised his conscience. He said the slain journalist stood for justice and truth and national interests. Arshad Sharif didn’t even spare him and criticised him on many occasions, he said.

Imran Khan said Arshad Sharif was a professional journalist and had exposed the two families (Sharif and Zardari) and their corruption in his television programmes with proof. “No one could buy or scare him but when he started exposing the present regime, he started receiving threats from unknown numbers asking him to stop speaking the truth,” Imran Khan told the lawyers convention.

The former prime minister claimed, “I had received information that they were about to kill him. They stormed his house in Islamabad and frightened him in the presence of his family so that he didn’t speak the truth.”

He said he, in fact, had advised Arshad Sharif to leave the country. “He refused to leave the country. Then I told him I have the information, the same way I had information about a plot to kill me,” he explained.

Imran Khan said Arshad Sharif left the country but was being called back when his visa for the UAE was about to expire. He had committed no crime but his major crime was speaking the truth.

Without mentioning any name, Imran Khan said they wanted to do the same with Arshad Sharif whatever they did with Azam Swati, Shehbaz Gill and Jameel Farooqi. PTI leaders, Shehbaz Gill, Azam Swati and journalist Jameel Farooqi, were taken into custody by the Islamabad Police recently in different cases and were freed later.

Imran Khan, however, alleged that all of them were stripped naked and tortured during custody. He also talked about an unknown person in Islamabad whom he called “Dirty Harry” and blamed him for stripping people naked as part of torture tactics.

In his speech, the PTI chief also urged the lawyers to strengthen him for the establishment of rule of law. “I have no personal agenda. I want this country to be run in a democratic and lawful manner,” he said. He said thieves had been imposed on the country under a conspiracy.