Arshad Sharif case: Kenya journalist finds Pak investigators more trustworthy than Kenyan police

Nairobi, Kenya: A leading crime reporter, working for a major Kenya TV said it looks like the investigation into Arshad Sharif’s murder by the Pakistani facts-finding team will yield more facts than the Kenyan authorities, as she noted that Khurram Ahmad and Waqar Ahmad are the most critical witnesses to find the truth.

Ngina Kirori has been covering Sharif’s murder case from day one and has prepared several investigative reports for her television station. She has more hopes for the Pakistan probe team than the Kenyan investigators after witnessing several “loopholes” in the Kenya police versions and how the whole investigation has been full of contradictions on the part of Kenyan police, the Ahmed brothers, and the Pakistan High Commission.

In an interview with Geo News, she said: “The truth will come out at a certain time. I don’t feel it will come out from the police or the critical witnesses such as Khurram Ahmed, but I am sure the Pakistani investigation (led by FIA’s Ather Waheed and IB’s Omar Shahid Hamid) will shed more light but I will not expect that anytime soon because a lot depends on critical witnesses like Khurram Ahmad as in will he say in his official statement.

The role of independent organisations will be critical too.” Kirori said the Kenya police were “full of contradictions” from the very start after Sharif was killed on October 23 — when he was on his way to Nairobi from AmmoDump Shooting Range.

She said the police claimed they had blocked the Magadi Road but it turned out there were small stones and no blockade; there was no official roadblock; Khurram Ahmad was not a brother to Arshad Sharif; GSU officers don’t block roads and don’t man roadblocks; there were contradictions in the number plates of two cars; contradictions in what the police said about the operation and the make of car; and the National Police Service (NPS) made misleading statements.

She said, “The NPS has not made a concrete statement, the post-mortem report was not made public and Pakistan found there was a bullet inside Arshad Sharif’s body and that he was shot at a close range.”

Kirori thought that initially the Kenya police, Khurram Ahmad and Pakistan High Commission in Nairobi agreed to make similar statements of a road accident and mistaken identity for their own reasons but later on their version fell apart. She said,

“They all said the same thing. Pakistan High Commission denied Arshad Sharif was running from political persecution in Pakistan and had issues. They all had tallied their statements. They said he was enjoying himself here and was on a tourist visit. The Pakistan High Commissioner said they don’t want to mess up diplomatic relations with Pakistan here. Since then contradictions have surfaced which means there is something deeper than what we know.”