Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday welcome the suo moto notice taken by the Supreme Court (SC) on the killing of prominent journalist Arshad Sharif.
“I welcome Supreme Court taking suo moto notice of the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif,” the premier said in a Twitter post.
PM Shehbaz mentioned that he had already written a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) for setting up a judicial commission to probe the murder.
He assured that the government would extend full cooperation to the Court.
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A five-member bench including CJP Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar is hearing the case.
During the hearing, the CJP asked that why report of the fact finding committee has not been provided to the court as yet.
On this, the additional attorney general informed the court that Interior Minister was in Faisalabad when the report was received. “The report will be handed over to the SC once Rana Sanaullah peruses it,” he said.
“Does the interior minister have to make changes to the report?” the CJP asked, adding that the court could also summon Rana Sanaullah.
“A journalist was killed. It should be revealed who was behind the killing,” the CJP remarked.
The additional attorney general responded by saying the report would be submitted by tomorrow.
However, the CJP told him to submit it today so the hearing could continue on Wednesday.
The court directed the government to register a first information report (FIR) by tonight.
The CJP also termed Sharif’s medical report unsatisfactory.
Earlier today, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial took suo motu notice of the “brutal killing” of journalist Arshad Sharif.
According to a press release issued by the top court, a five-member bench headed by the CJP will initiate the hearing of the matter today.
The SC statement added that the hounourable CJP has issued notices to Secretary Interior, Secretary Foreign Affairs, Secretary Information and Broadcasting, Director General (DG) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) DG Intelligence Bureau (IB) and President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).
Arshad Sharif was shot dead in Kenya on October 23.
Initially, Kenyan media had quoted the local police as saying Sharif was shot dead by police in a case of “mistaken identity”.
However, later reports reconstructed the events surrounding the killing, stating that an occupant in Sharif’s car at the time of his killing was believed to have shot at paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) officers.
Arshad had left Pakistan in August 2022 after a number of cases were registered against him.
