The Pakistan Army and the country’s powerful intelligence agency ISI on Thursday tried to link former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party PTI with the killing in Kenya of a Pakistani journalist who is said to have fled the country after receiving death threats.
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum joined Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar at a press conference here to speak about Arshad Sharif’s killing and Imran Khan’s “confrontational narrative against the military”.
This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that the head of the spy agency has directly addressed the media.
The officer said they were meeting the media so that “facts, fiction and opinion can be differentiated” and added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been “specially informed” about the sensitivity of the press conference.
“Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was also targeted and faced criticism. An attempt was made to create a divide in society.”
Gen Iftikhar said journalist Sharif’s death was an “unfortunate incident” and called him an “icon of journalism in Pakistan”.
He said that Sharif and other journalists were fed a particular narrative and an attempt was made to defame Pakistan and the country’s institutions.
“In this media trial, ARY News played the role of a spin doctor in targeting the army and promoting a false narrative.”
He noted that Sharif made strong comments regarding the army during this time but added that “we did not have any negative sentiments about him and we don’t have such feelings now”.
The officer said that a Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group was looking to target Sharif, according to a provincial government headed by Imran Khan’s PTI.
The officer also questioned who was in contact with Sharif from Pakistan and who was hosting him in Kenya.
“Kenyan police accepted their mistake and it has to be examined whether this is a case of mistaken identity or one of targeted killing. There are several questions that have to be answered,” he said, calling for a “transparent and fair probe”.
Talking about Sharif, the ISI chief said he was a “competent, hardworking and able journalist”. “Some quarters may have differences with his political views but his dedication for work is undeniable.”
But he insisted that Sharif did not face any threat in Pakistan. “We had no personal enmity with him.”
