One of Pakistan’s senior-most and most respected journalists Shaheen Sehbai has launched a fundraising campaign for an independent investigation into the brutal murder of Arshad Sharif. The Washington-based journalist launched the campaign to raise $100,000 on October 25th. Since its launching, the campaign has raised (as of Oct 30th) 35,767 dollars for the investigation and support for the family of Sharif, who was assassinated in Kenya on Oct 23.
“The Pakistani nation have the right to know what happened (to Arshad Sharif) and we will seek help from Experts Criminal forensic team in USA to find out what happened there,” Sehbai says inn a post on GoFundMe. “There is overwhelming evidence that foul play was involved,” he adds. The money raised through the campaign will be monitored by Sehbai, and some other Pakistani journalists like Amir Mateen, Rauf Klasra, Imran Riaz, and Moeed Peerzada. They will allocate funds for a fair and impartial investigation and the rest of the money will be given to Sharif’s family.
In an update posted on GoFundMe page, Asim Sehbai who is administering the page, wrote: “Many thanks and heartfelt best wishes for all the hundreds of donors who have already contributed almost 1/3rd of the amount requested. The funds are safe and 2 primary goals were set: 1 to send experts to Kenya for an independent assessment, 2: to help Arshad’s family.”
He said a lot of funds were needed for experts “but we will wait until a UN or International Body sends a mission and will try our Expert to be a part of that team. Any private expert will not get any help or assistance from Kenyan/Pak governments. So we will not waste peoples money.”
He said things are still in a developing situation “so we are not in a hurry.”