WEB DESK
The FIA fact finding committee also summoned PTI leader Murad Saeed and sent him a questionnaire. Saeed, however, replied by sending a list of 10 questions of his own as he termed the committee an extension of the federal government which was pursuing Arshad Sharif.
“Federal government was persecuting Shaheed Arshad Sharif in a number of cases, his life and liberty were under constant threat/peril primarily due to the reason that the state, instead of safeguarding him was buy incessantly persecuting him,” he wrote.
He questioned the ability of the committee to function and ascertain the truth independently.
He pointed to how Arshad Sharif’s mother had expressed a lack of faith in the government to deliver her justice and how she had to move the court to even obtain the post-mortem report of her son.
Sending his reply to the FIA committee via the instant messaging application Whatsapp instead of appearing in person before the committee as summoned, Saeed stated that only the judiciary was independent since it did not operate under the executive branch as he expressed a lack of trust in the government’s fact finding committee.
Saeed, though, said he would be willing to appear before a judicial commission constituted by the Supreme Court.
Instead, Saeed went on to raise 10 questions of his own with regard to:
- investigations into Shehbaz Sharif’s cases,
- those who opposed Arshad Sharif’s reporting,
- who threatened the journalist,
- who visited, harassed and threatened Arshad Sharif while he was in Pakistan
- who leaked images of Arshad Sharif taken at the immigration counter of Peshawar Airport while leaving Pakistan
- who was behind Arshad Sharif’s forceful exit from Dubai
- who visited the journalist in the lobby of the Dubai hotel and asked him to leave the country
- who directed the media to portray Arshad Sharif’s murder as an accident
- who was Arshad Sharif investigating when and was discussed in his vlogs before his murder
- why much hurried press conferences were held after his murder which provided alleged incorrect information.
He said the interior minister also tried to connect the murder of a journalist with a gold smuggling racket in Kenya.
