The Supreme Court has fixed suo motu case of senior journalist Arshad Sharif’s assassination for hearing on March 17.

A five-member larger bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial will conduct the hearing on the case on Friday.

Other members of the bench are Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar.

 The five-judge SC bench had initiated suo motu proceedings to ensure transparent and independent investigation into the journalist’s murder.

Arshad Sharif’s assassination

The senior journalist and former ARY News anchor, was killed in Kenyan capital Nairobi on October 23 where he was living in self-exile.

Kenyan police first said that Arshad Sharif was killed in a case of “mistaken identity” but since the seasoned journalist’s post-mortem and his body’s transfer to his home country, several Kenyan news outlets have not only questioned the police’s conduct but have raised questions over the manner in which he was killed.