ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda on Wednesday claimed that the “establishment is not involved” in cold-blooded murder of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya as his “murder was planned in Pakistan by people who are in touch with international players conspiring against the country”.
The presser by PTI leader, which was also broadcast live by state-run PTV, said: “The murder of Arshad Sharif was pre-planned and conspired in Pakistan while the evidence of the crime has been erased”.
He vowed to ‘reveal’ the truth behind Sharif’s killing in days to come, saying no evidence or Arshad Sharif’s mobile or laptop would be found as they have been erased as “Kenya is worse than Pakistan”.
“This is a cold-blooded planned murder…I was in contact with him [Arshad Sharif] since the day he left the country. He was in touch with the establishment and he wanted to come back, and then he was forced to leave Dubai and forced to go to Kenya,” he claimed.
“No ordinary man can send Arshad Sharif to Kenya. People who want to break up this country are behind this murder. It is a planned murder,” he added.
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He also categorically said: “It is being said that around 20 bullets were fired and Arshad Sharif was killed. But this did not happen. According to me, he was shot from inside the car or close range. He received 2 bullets, in the head and chest, not 20 bullets.”
Vawda claimed that the story regarding a child’s abduction surrounding the journalist’s murder was false, saying that if a child was present in the car, why would the police open fire.
“This was cold planned brutal murder just of Arshad Sharif in this car, not anyone else,” he added.
The PTI leader said that “I won’t name the people involved in the crime right now but I’ve made a video and named people. If I’m killed the people involved [in murder of Arshad Sharif] will also be killed in three to five hours,” he declared.
He went on to claim that the “conspiracy began when FIRs (first information reports) were lodge against Arshad Sharif”, alleging that the journalist was not willing to leave the country.
“The conspirators scared him and made him desperate to leave the country. He then reached Dubai and it was said that establishment or an unnamed institution put pressure to get him out but this is also false and a lie.
“He stayed in Dubai as per the visa limit, when it expired then he had to leave. The diversion to London was told but he didn’t go there,” he claimed.
He said that Arshad Sharif was steadfast on his stance and no one could buy him.
“In coming days I will remove all the curtains. I have told my family if something happens to me then as gifts you will get their bodies too.
“No normal person could have sent Arshad Sharif to Kenya. Who hid him and was in contact with him in Kenya? Behind it are those conspirators and liars who want the break-up of the country and break my party,” he alleged.
To a question, he said he would share the evidence he claimed to possess about the conspiracy to kill Arshad Sharif only with his party chairman Imran Khan, Military Intelligence (MI) or the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), as “I do not trust anyone else in the country”.
He said that the “current establishment would be the most stupid if had acted like this”, adding the people who are the beneficiary of the killing of the journalist are behind the brutal murder.
“Arshad Sharif was used. The evidence of his murder were destroyed. He trusted them […] and they exploited him. I will be revealing their names in a few days,” he added.
At the same time, he said that those involved in the killing of Arshad Sharif “hail from both PTI and other political parties”.
He also warned that there would be bloodshed in the upcoming long march of PTI, as the party is set to begin its long march from Lahore on Friday to press the incumbent government to announce early elections in the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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