ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday shared the names of the members of a new joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif with the Supreme Court.

The government has proposed new names for the team after the apex court Wednesday rejected a JIT formed earlier by Islamabad Police and ordered that an “independent” team be constituted to probe the case.

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial is heading a five-member bench hearing the suo motu case into the gruesome murder of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya on October 23 in mysterious circumstances.

The local authorities had claimed that the journalist was killed in mistaken identity after which Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) launched an investigation, the report of which has not been released yet.

Sharif had earlier fled from Pakistan citing threats to his life after a number of treason cases were filed against him.

The apex court had taken the notice of the incident and sought responses from the ministries of foreign and interior.

At the outset of today’s hearing, the federal government informed the court that a new JIT has been formed including DIG Islamabad Owais Ahmed, Director Cybercrime FIA Waqaruddin Syed, Sajid Kayani from Intelligence Bureau, Murtaza Afzal from Military Intelligence and Mohammad Aslam from Inter-Services Intelligence.

More to follow…