Popular Pakistani TV host shot dead in Kenya

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - A prominent Pakistani journalist and TV host, Arshad Sharif, was shot dead by unknown assailants in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, his family and local media reported Monday.

"I lost friend, husband and my favourite journalist @arsched today, as per police he was shot in Kenya,” his wife Javeria Siddique said in on Twitter.

“Respect our privacy and in the name of breaking pls don't share our family pics, personal details and his last pictures from hospital. Remember us in ur prayers,” she added.

“Arshad Sharif’s death Is a great loss to journalism and Pakistan. May his soul rest in peace and may his family, which includes his followers, have the strength to bear this loss,” President Arif Alvi tweeted.

Sharif worked for local English daily Dawn and later hosted a popular political show at ARY News, a local broadcaster, for several years.

There were no further details about his arrival in Nairobi or the circumstances that led to his assassination.

The Kenyan police are investigating the incident, ARY News reported.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said Pakistan’s High Commission in Kenya was in touch with the Kenyan authorities.

Sharif had left the country first for Dubai and later London in August after his channel parted ways with him, without citing any specific reason, following the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan through a no-trust vote in April.

Sharif along with other ARY officials were charged with sedition over a controversial interview with Shahbaz Gill, the leader of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which was broadcast on the channel in August. Gill was later arrested and released on bail.

Sharif was known to be a staunch supporter of the former premier and openly criticized the alleged role of state institutions in his ouster.