Eight-member medical board completes journalist Arshad Sharif’s post-mortem in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: An eight-member team of medical doctors completed the post-mortem of journalist Arshad Sharif at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad to determine the cause of his death, an official at the hospital said on Wednesday. 
Sharif was killed Sunday night when the car he was in sped up and drove through a checkpoint outside the Kenyan capital, prompting police to open fire, according to the authorities in the East African country. Nairobi police say the shooting was being treated as a case of mistaken identity. 
The circumstances of Sharif’s death have sparked widespread outrage in Pakistan and calls for an investigation. Sharif, a hugely popular talk show host, was of late a harsh critic of the current ruling coalition and the army, and fled the country in August, citing threats to his life. 
He was also widely considered a staunch supporter of ex-PM Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party. At the time he left the country, he was facing a slew of court cases related to charges of sedition and others. He was believed to have been in the United Arab Emirates since he left Pakistan and had recently traveled to Kenya from the Emirates. 
“The post-mortem has been completed and samples have been dispatched to relevant laboratories for a report,” Dr. Naveed Ahmed Shaikh, a spokesperson for PIMS, told Arab News. 
The medical board comprised Dr. Khalid Masud, Professor SH Waqar, Professor Dr. Mumtaz Khan Niazi, Professor Dr. Farrukh Kamal, Dr. Irshad Hussain, Dr. Nasreen Butt, Dr. Altaf Hussain and Dr. Mohammad Umar Farooq. 
Shaikh said the journalist’s X-ray and CT scan had also been done for the radiological findings on the recommendation of the doctors’ team before the body was handed over to his relatives after the process. 
“The radiological findings can help determine the gunshot injuries, entry and exit of bullets and any other foreign mass in the body of the deceased,” he continued. “The medical board will have a meeting tomorrow to look at the radiological reports for initial assessment.” 
Shaikh said it would take around two weeks to get all the medical examination reports from the relevant laboratories, adding it was only after that that “doctors would be able to say something with certainty about the journalist’s cause of death.” 
Sharif’s body arrived in Islamabad just after midnight on Wednesday and was transported to a morgue in a private hospital in Rawalpindi. He will be laid to rest tomorrow, Thursday, after a funeral prayer at Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. 
The Pakistani government has also constituted a two-member team that will leave for Kenya to investigate the murder of the outspoken journalist. 
In a notification issued on Wednesday, the country’s interior ministry said that the team had been formed on the directions of the Prime Minister’s Office to “ascertain the facts related to the murder of senior journalist Arshad Sharif from Kenyan police and relevant authorities.” 
The team includes the director of the Federal Investigation Agency, Athar Waheed, and deputy director general of the Intelligence Bureau, Omar Shahid Hamid. 
“The team will travel to Kenya immediately,” said the circular, adding the ministry of foreign affairs and Pakistan’s high commission in Nairobi would facilitate the visit. 
It did not specify a timeframe for the team to complete the investigation.