ISLAMABAD: The government is preparing the draft of a mutual legal assistance (MLA) agreement in the Arshad Sharif case to formally ask Kenyan authorities to allow access to suspects in the journalist’s killing last year, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Mr Awan was confident that the final draft of the agreement, currently being circulated among the relevant federal ministries for their input, would soon be placed before the cabinet for its approval.

He was speaking at a court hearing by a five-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

The attorney general informed the court that the MLA was being developed at the request of the Kenyan government, after which the visit of the special joint investigation team would be fruitful since they could access suspects believed to be behind Mr Sharif’s killing.

He conceded that the Kenyan authorities got upset after the contents of a fact-finding report were released and flashed by television channels.

AGP tells apex court final draft will soon be placed before cabinet for approval

Justice Bandial also emphasised the need to identify perpetrators behind the killing, adding that though certain Kenyan police officials killed the journalist, finding the real culprit was a matter of huge public interest.

“We don’t want to stifle the freedom of expression,” he obse­rved, adding that “we have to protect the journalist since they were the eyes and ears of the society”.

The country’s top judge regretted that no headway had been made in the case, adding that the circulation of the initial fact-finding report on Mr Sharif’s killing was unfortunate. Justice Bandial also exp­r­essed his surprise over the lack of precautionary measures in releasing the report.

Advocate Saad Buttar, representing Mr Sharif’s wife Javeria Siddique, highlighted the available mechanism concerning international covenants and resolutions to conduct independent and transparent investigations into the journalist’s death. He stressed the need that the government should make such a request.

However, Mr Awan, the attorney general, highlighted that engaging the United Nations at this stage might stall the ongoing initiatives. “We should wait until the MLA between Pakistan and Kenya was signed,” he said.

Justice Bandial, however, appreciated the efforts done by the counsel but observed that the court couldn’t decide who to approach and who to request, though it could request the attorney general to consider exploring the international avenue. He said the government had to be agreed to it before engaging the UN.

Meanwhile, the court ignored a request moved on behalf of Mr Sharif’s mother through her counsel, Advocate Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, that the special joint investigation team formed on the journalist’s killing should investigate and record evidence of five individuals — namely former prime minister Imran Khan; former cabinet members Faisal Vawda and Murad Saeed; ARY CEO Salman Iqbal; and vlogger Imran Riaz Khan.

She argued that since these individuals had made claims with all certainty about Mr Sharif’s killing, they should be ordered to join the investigation to collect evidence against the real perpetrators.

However, the chief justice obse­rved that the court was only facilitating the inquiry against the journalist’s killing, adding that neither the court would interfere nor supe­rvise the conduct of the investigation or issue any direction to the investigation team in its inquiry.

The court, however, asked the counsel to approach the investigating officers by moving the same application before them. If they deemed it fit, they would accept the plea of the counsel, the court said.

The counsel emphasised that the vital part of the investigation was within Pakistan since there were a lot of things behind the conspiracy in the journalist’s killing. The case will be taken up again on July 10.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2023