Serious Spooks Seriously Offended By Questions Over News Anchor Killing

Michael Hedges October 31, 2022 Follow on Twitter

Crime mysteries attract a considerable following. Melodrama aside, fiction is more popular than reality. The reason is simple: real bad guys have read all the books, seen all the movies. And they do not want to be in any of them.

Prominent Pakistani TV news anchor Arshad Sharif was shot and killed in Kenya a week ago. That much is fact. Almost everything else about the story is conjecture, subject to change day by day. What stands out, as in every crime drama, are the occasional surprises. It is as if there is a script, one of confusion.

Arshad Sharif last worked for ARY News as host of the investigative program Power Game. He had held management and reporting positions with several Pakistani outlets over two decades. A broadcast interview with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party spokesperson Shahbaz Gill (August 8) led to threats. Mr. Gill was arrested for sedition, released a month later. To avoid arrest, Mr. Sharif, a critic of the country’s military, exited Pakistan for Dubai, then relocating to Kenya. By appearance, he was on the move. His lawyer Shoaib Razzaq claimed the Pakistani government asked the UAE to extradite him back to Pakistan, reported the BBC (October 28).

While in Kenya he and a companion drove from Nairobi, the capital, to a target range. On the road, one or more Kenyan army vehicles followed, speeds increased and a roadblock set up. The car in which Mr. Sharif was riding crashed through the roadblock after which came a fusillade from the police. The driver of the car took the seriously injured Mr. Sharif to a medical facility, where he was pronounced dead.

In its initial report the Kenyan army the incident a case of “mistaken identity.” Then, the vehicle was a stolen car used in a kidnapping. Then shots were fired at officers from inside the car. An official inquiry has been empaneled. After a post-mortem conducted in Kenya, the body was transported to Pakistan. At a medical facility an autopsy discovered “a piece of metal,” later described as a bullet fragment. Pakistani medical examiners were “surprised” as removing such evidence is standard forensic practice, noted daily Dawn (October 29).

ARY News is a news channel, on and off the air since 2004, owned by ARY Group. Sister channels include ARY Digital, ARY Nick, ARY Musik, A Sports and streaming service ARY Zap. ARY Digital was launched in the UK in 2000. Production base for ARY News is in Karachi, Pakistan. Holding company headquarters is in Dubai, UAE, where the satellite uplink is operated. The company’s founder and chief executive is Salman Iqbal. According to Reuters, an airplane ticket for Mr. Sharif from Karachi to Dubai was booked by ARY News.

Coincident with the ARY News August interview with the aforementioned Mr. Gill, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) ordered cable operators to stop distributing the channel “until further notice,” reported VOA (August 8), saying those comments were “tantamount to inciting ranks and files of armed forces towards revolt.” The PTI is the political party of former prime minister Imran Khan. Editorially, ARY News has been “supportive” of the PTI and Mr. Kahn while critical of the Pakistani army.

“The many cases of harassment that Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) has registered in the past two months have one thing in common. Noted Asia-Pacific desk head Daniel Bastard, in a statement. “It is clear from the data that the armed forces have launched a major campaign to intimidate critical journalists. This kind of interference, which is absolutely intolerable, must stop at once or else the chief of the army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, will be held directly responsible for the decline in press freedom in Pakistan.” The RSF World Press Freedom Index ranks Pakistan 157th of 180 countries, slightly below the Russian Federation.

It was, then, altogether a major surprise to all when spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director-general Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum paused his busy schedule for a press conference. In 17 years he has never addressed the press corp, noted daily Dawn (October 27), which called the event “explosive and unprecedented.” "I am aware that you are surprised by my presence,” he said to the assembled scribes. "As chief of this agency, I cannot remain silent when they are targeted for no reason.” He placed blame on Imran Kahn and ARY News for playing “the role of a spin doctor in targeting the army” adding that Mr. Sharif “did not face any threat in Pakistan.”

Meanwhile it has been crickets from Kenyan authorities. An official inquiry is underway with representatives from Pakistan’s ISI attending. The elite police agency Special Services Unit (SSU), reputedly involved in extrajudicial killings over decades, was disbanded by newly elected President William Ruto. In July Indian TV executive Zulfiqar Khan disappeared in Kenya. Five SSU members and four police officers have been arrested in the case.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Pakistan

• Hot Topics - Elections and Media

• Hot Topics - Press Freedom

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