Journalist Arshad Sharif’s death is a targeted killing: Imran Khan

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that the death of journalist Arshad Sharif, who was shot dead in Kenya by the local police on Sunday night, was a targeted attack and that he had advised him to leave the country in view of the threats to his life, a media report has said.

Sharif was shot dead in Kenya by the local police on Sunday night, with an official police statement later expressing “regrets on the unfortunate incident”.

Addressing a lawyer’s convention in Peshawar, Khan, 70, said that he knew that the life of journalist Sharif was under threat, The Express Tribune reported. “He [Arshad Sharif] knew that his life was in danger. He was repeatedly receiving threats but he refused to give in… no matter what people call it but I know that this was a target killing,” khan said.

Calling Sharif a “martyr,” the former prime minister said that the “fearless and patriot” journalist remained unfazed in face of death threats and refused to compromise on his stance.

Khan claimed that he had advised the journalist to leave the country after he received information about his assassination plot.

He said the slain journalist exposed the “corruption scandals” of the Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari families with evidence on his popular TV talk-show “but no one could dare to buy or scare him”.