Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial has taken suo motu notice of the brutal killing of renowned journalist Arshad Sharif, a statement issued by the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday said. The development comes three days after PTI chief Imran Khan penned a letter to CJP Bandial, asking him to conduct an independent judicial inquiry into the killing of Sharif, who was shot dead in Kenya on Oct 24. The matter has been fixed for hearing before the apex court at 12:30pm today, the SC statement said, adding that notices were issued to the interior secretary, foreign affairs secretary, information and broadcasting secretary, Federal Investigation Agency director general (DG), Intelligence Bureau DG and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists president. A five-member bench, headed by the CJP, would hear the case, the statement said. It added,

“The journalist community in the country and the public at large are deeply distressed and are concerned about the death of the senior journalist and are seeking the court’s scrutiny of the matter.” Imran and other PTI leaders have been demanding an investigation into the targeted killing of the renowned journalist, claiming that he was forced to leave Pakistan and eventually the United Arab Emirates as well where he had stayed for a short time before heading to Kenya. The Foreign Office has, however, dismissed these claims. It was worth mentioned here that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had last month announced that a judicial commission would be formed to probe the matter and subsequently wrote to the CJP about his request. Sharif’s mother had also penned a letter to the CJP on November 2, requesting the formation of a high-powered judicial commission to investigate the murder.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP