Ms Sumayya Arshad, the first wife of late Pakistan Journalist Arshad Sharif who was allegedly murdered in Kenya on October 23, 2022, by officers attached to the General Service Unit (GSU) has finally spoken about the incident.
Ms Sumayya, unlike Ms Javeria Siddique who is the second wife to the deceased journalist, has never spoken to any media house until she was reached out by an international media house.
In a video in our possession, Ms Sumayya said she was first informed of the death of her husband by some colleagues who worked with Mr Sharif at Ary News, the last place the deceased worked before he fled his home country citing threats to his life.
“I was just in the house when some of his colleagues from the office visited and informed me that Sharif had been involved in an accident and had died while he was in Kenya,” Ms Summayya said.
Ms Sumayya said she has since joined all the rest who were demanding justice for her husband saying that her silence was all because she needed time before making any move.
According to her, she suspected that the people her husband was running away from were the same ones who might have had a hand in his death.
“I have always lived far away from the media and today I am ready to fight this long battle to ensure that I get justice for my husband,” she said.
In an early interview with Nation.Africa, Ms Siddique confessed that she really missed her husband.
She described her husband as a man who was always out to ensure that he provided for his family at large.
According to her, Mr Sharif loved taking photos during his free time or reading novels whenever he was in the house.
“He was a private person and he was not that talkative as well but he loved hosting people since his hospitality was so high,” Ms Siddique said.
Ms Siddique said that her husband was bright and very brilliant on matters of class work and this is evident with how he performed in class.
She said that her husband studied at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad where he received his Masters of Science in Public Administration.
He also studied at Gordon College and Ulster University.
On December 3, 2022, in honor of the slain journalist, the Government College University (GCU) renamed its media department to the Arshad Sharif School of Journalism.
This is after the Vice Chancellor of GCU Asghar Zaidi held a meeting with the former Prime Minister Imran Khan when the decision was made and they renamed the media department.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr Zaidi said in the Arshad Sharif School of Journalism, special attention would be paid to investigative journalism and journalistic values.
The death of Mr Sharif is currently under investigations both in Kenya and Pakistan.
Already, the Pakistan government has said that two men living in Kenya who hosted the journalist were persons of interest in the case.
They were identified as Waqar Ahmad and Khurram Ahmad who was driving the vehicle when the slain journalist was killed.
