Kenyan police, brothers who hosted Arshad Sharif complicit in murder — interior minister

In this picture taken on June 22, 2022, a top Pakistani news anchor Arshad Sharif speaks during an event in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy: AFP/File)
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Updated 11 November 2022
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Kenyan police, brothers who hosted Arshad Sharif complicit in murder — interior minister

  • Facts obtained from Kenya make it clear it was a case of targeted killing — interior minister
  • Prominent journalist Arshad Sharif, who fled Pakistan, was shot dead by Kenyan police on October 23

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday said the two Pakistani brothers, Khurram Ahmad and Waqar Ahmad, who hosted slain journalist Arshad Sharif in Nairobi, were complicit in his murder along with the Kenyan police.

An official familiar with the investigation into Sharif’s killing told Arab News earlier this week that Pakistan was seeking Interpol’s help to bring Waqar and Khurram back to Pakistan for questioning.

A prominent Pakistani journalist who became a harsh critic of the incumbent government and the military toward the end of his life, Sharif was killed on October 23 when his car was said to have sped up and drove through a checkpoint outside the Kenyan capital, prompting the police to open fire.

The law enforcement officials in Nairobi expressed regret over the incident, saying it was a case of “mistaken identity” during a search for a car involved in a child abduction case. Pakistan dispatched a team to Kenya to conduct a probe into the killing. The team recorded the statement of the two brothers.

Speaking to local TV channel Geo News, Sanaullah said Sharif’s visit visa to Kenya was sponsored by Waqar, adding that the slain journalist was also living at Waqar’s flat in Nairobi.

“Waqar, Khurram and those five Kenyan police personnel are involved in this incident,” he said. “They are complicit in this murder. You can say this happened as a result of their ‘joint venture’,” he added.

Sanaullah said facts collected by the Pakistani authorities in Kenya made it clear that it was not a case of “mistaken identity” but was a case of targeted killing.

Waqar had reportedly invited the slain journalist to dine with him on the day of the killing at his lodge outside Nairobi while Khurram was driving him back when the shooting incident took place. Local media also reported quite widely Sharif’s postmortem report showed he had been tortured before being shot.

“People who fired at the vehicle knew who they were firing at and where he [Sharif] was sitting,” Sanaullah said. “They also knew who was sitting at the other end [Khurram], and how they had to save him to achieve the target.”

The slain journalist left his country after several cases related to charges of sedition and others were filed against him. He was believed to have been in the UAE since leaving Pakistan before he decided to travel to Kenya.


Pakistan PM to visit Saudi Arabia Monday, reaffirm support for Palestine at international conference

Updated 11 sec ago
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Pakistan PM to visit Saudi Arabia Monday, reaffirm support for Palestine at international conference

  • Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh will bring together heads of state and governments from Muslim countries
  • Visit will be Sharif’s second trip to the kingdom within days, as both sides bolster economic collaboration

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Saudi Arabia next week to attend the second Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh, the foreign office said on Thursday, where he will emphasize Pakistan’s unwavering support for Palestine.
The visit marks Sharif’s second trip to the kingdom within days, as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia strengthen economic ties, having recently signed 34 memoranda of understanding and agreements totaling $2.8 billion.
The summit, convened at Saudi Arabia’s initiative, will address escalating tensions in the Middle East, where Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon have intensified, while tensions between Iran and Tel Aviv have led to recent missile exchanges.
Foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch noted in her weekly briefing that the summit builds on the extraordinary gathering held on November 11, 2023, focused on Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to participate in the second joint Arab-Islamic Summit being held in Riyadh on 11th of November,” she said.
“Heads of state and government and senior officials from Arab League and OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] member countries are expected to participate in the summit,” she added. “The prime minister will reiterate Pakistan’s full support for the Palestinian cause, calling for an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza.”
Sharif is expected to advocate for an urgent, unconditional ceasefire and a halt to Israeli military actions that threaten Middle Eastern security, according to the spokesperson.
Pakistan will also push for international protection for Palestinians and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“On the sidelines of the summit,” Baloch continued, “the prime minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders from other Arab League and OIC member states.”
Amid ongoing Middle Eastern conflicts, Pakistan has dispatched over a dozen relief consignments to Gaza and Lebanon and provided diplomatic support, urging the international community to hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government accountable for its actions in the region.


Pakistan’s northwestern province urges public to expose proxy ownership, help curb tax evasion

Updated 07 November 2024
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Pakistan’s northwestern province urges public to expose proxy ownership, help curb tax evasion

  • KP chief minister promises 40 percent share to people for identifying ‘benami’ properties in the province
  • CM Gandapur says while addressing a seminar his administration wants to introduce a whistleblower law

PESHAWAR: In an effort to document the economy and broaden the tax net, the chief minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province announced Wednesday that attractive rewards would be offered to whistleblowers who assist the government in identifying instances of proxy ownership, locally known as benami properties, in the province.
Benami properties are assets registered under another person’s name to disguise the actual owner’s identity, often used to conceal movable or immovable assets for tax evasion or other purposes.
Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur outlined his plan to introduce a whistleblower law at a seminar on combating drugs in Peshawar aimed at rooting out corruption from the province.
“Anyone providing information in helping the government identify a benami property will get 40 percent share,” he said.
Gandapur maintained people should help out the government, adding they should benefit from the opportunity that his administration was providing.
Pakistan’s tax collection body, the Federal Board of Revenue, announced in 2019 it would confiscate vehicles and properties with proxy ownership, as well as fictitious bank accounts.
The chief minister said public cooperation was crucial to the government, which could not advance without their support.
He also spoke out against the widespread availability and use of drugs in the province.
“The KP government has a zero-tolerance policy on drugs, and we have issued clear directives to relevant departments and institutions to crack down on the drug trade,” he added.
He stressed the government should deal sternly with those involved in drug trafficking. Gandapur described the drug trade as a heinous crime and vowed to impose exemplary punishment on those engaged in it.
“During our tenure, we have rehabilitated 2,400 drug users, including individuals from other provinces and even Afghan nationals,” he said, adding that the rehabilitation program would continue until drug users take control of their lives and become responsible citizens.


Bomb and mortar attacks in northwest Pakistan kill four security officers, two schoolchildren

Updated 07 November 2024
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Bomb and mortar attacks in northwest Pakistan kill four security officers, two schoolchildren

  • Pakistan has launched dozens of operations against militants, but they continue to carry out attacks
  • The bomb attack took place in South Waziristan while the children were killed by a mortar in Tirah valley

PESHAWAR: A roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security forces in northwestern Pakistan, killing four officers and wounding five others, officials said Thursday, while two schoolchildren also lost their lives when a mortar exploded nearby elsewhere in the region.

The roadside bombing happened Wednesday in South Waziristan district, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, local police officer Dilawar Khan said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, has stepped up its assaults in the region since its ally the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

Later the same day, a mortar fired by insurgents landed near a road in the Tirah valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, killing two schoolchildren who was going to school on foot, police said.

The Pakistani military has launched dozens of operations against the Pakistani Taliban and other insurgents in South Waziristan and other former tribal regions nearby, but the militants continue to carry out frequent attacks.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Chinese ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad to brief him about an investigation into an attack Tuesday in which a guard shot and wounded two Chinese nationals at a textile mill in the port city of Karachi, allegedly over a private dispute.

China has frequently demanded better security for its nationals who are in Pakistan to work for Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.


Pakistan condemns Israeli efforts against operations of UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Updated 07 November 2024
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Pakistan condemns Israeli efforts against operations of UN agency for Palestinian refugees

  • Israel’s parliament voted last month to ban UNRWA from operating within Israel and occupied East Jerusalem
  • Almost all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are dependent on aid and services from UNRWA

ISLAMABAD: Acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, has “strongly condemned” Israel’s attempts to dismantle the operations of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), calling it a part of Israel’s “genocidal campaign” against the people of Palestine.

Israel’s parliament voted last month to ban the UNRWA from operating within Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, crippling its ability to work in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Almost all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are dependent on aid and services from the agency.

The move has faced widespread condemnation, with UNRWA warning the new law could see aid supply chains “fall apart” in the coming weeks. Israel has defended the move, repeating its allegation that a number of the agency’s staff were involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks last year, which killed 1,200 people.

“The adoption of the law by the Israeli parliament [is] a flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, provisional measures set by the International Court of Justice, and the ICJ’s advisory opinion issued on July 19,” Jadoon said while speaking at a UN General Assembly meeting, calling on the international community, in particular the UN Security Council, to hold Israel accountable for its actions and ensure unimpeded operations of UNRWA.

Jadoon demanded a stop to the “demonization and delegitimization” of UNRWA.

“By targeting the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Israel not only obstructs vital humanitarian assistance but also threatens the collective effort to uphold the Palestinian people’s identity, rights and aspirations for justice and peace,” Jadoon added.

Founded in 1949, UNRWA works in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, initially caring for the 700,000 Palestinians who were forced from or fled their homes after the creation of the state of Israel. Over the decades, the agency has grown to become the biggest UN agency operating in Gaza.

Since the war in Gaza began in October last year, the agency says it has distributed food parcels to almost 1.9 million people and also offered nearly six million medical consultations across the enclave over the course of the conflict.

More than 200 UNRWA staff have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023 in the course of those duties, according to the agency.
 


Pakistan, China to form joint security strategy following attack on Chinese workers in Karachi

Updated 07 November 2024
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Pakistan, China to form joint security strategy following attack on Chinese workers in Karachi

  • Mohsin Naqvi says ensuring the safety of Chinese citizens and projects is Pakistan’s top priority
  • Chinese envoy maintains Beijing is ready to enhance bilateral security cooperation with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China agreed on Thursday to develop a joint security strategy, following an incident where two Chinese nationals suffered gunshot wounds in an attack by a security guard at a factory in Karachi, an official statement said.
An unknown number of Chinese nationals work in Pakistan, primarily as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multibillion-dollar energy, infrastructure development, and regional connectivity initiative.
Chinese workers have increasingly come under attack in Pakistan in recent years, with notable incidents including a suicide bombing in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that killed five Chinese engineers in March 2024 and an October blast near Karachi’s airport that left two other Chinese nationals dead.
The latest shooting occurred earlier this week, when a Pakistani security guard opened fire at a factory in Karachi, wounding two Chinese employees.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong to discuss the situation and Pakistan’s response to the rising security risks faced by Chinese nationals.
“We fully agree with China’s vision of integrating development and security,” he was quoted as saying in a statement released by his office after the meeting. “Ensuring the safety of Chinese citizens and projects is our top priority. Those involved in the incident will be brought to justice.”
The interior ministry informed the two officials “agreed to develop a joint strategy to prevent such incidents in the future.”
Ambassador Jiang also underscored the need for a stable environment for ongoing bilateral cooperation and expressed his country’s readiness to strengthen bilateral security ties.
“China is ready to enhance bilateral security cooperation and build the capacities of Pakistani institutions,” he said.
Attacks on Chinese nationals have put the bilateral relations between both states under increasing stress, with the Chinese envoy previously calling such incidents “unacceptable” publicly.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif personally visited the Chinese embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday to offer sympathies to the families of the Chinese who got injured in the recent shooting incident.
Pakistan and China have been discussing to upgrade CPEC in recent months, hoping to launch yet another phase marked by enhanced business-to-business relationships and further Chinese investment in the country.