Arshad Sharif | Pakistani journalist & writer | Biography

Photo: Internet

QUICK FACTS

Born: 22 February 1973

Born Place: Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

Died: 23 October 2022

Death Place: Kajiado, Kenya

Cause of death: Sniper Shot to the head

Occupation: News anchor

Employer: ARY Digital Network

Known for: Power Play TV Show ARY News
News Reporter at Dawn News
TV Show Kyun? (Why?) at Dunya News

Notable credit(s): Anchor ARY News
Bureau Chief ARY News (Islamabad)
News anchor Dunya TV
Former Director News, Aaj News
Former Director News, Dunya TV

Television: ARY News , Dunya News , Dawn News

Spouse(s): 2 marriages (first wife name unknown)
Javeria Siddique

Awards: President’s Award for Pride of Performance
Agahi Award
Asian Investigative Media Award
War Correspondent Award

BIOGRAPHY

Arshad Sharif PP was a Pakistani journalist, writer and television news anchor.

He specialised in investigative journalism and covered many political events in the country for national and international news organisations, including the United Kingdom. On 23 March 2019, he was awarded the Pride of Performance by the President of Pakistan Arif Alvi for his contributions to journalism.

He was shot and killed by police in Kenya on 23 October 2022.

Sharif was the host of the program Power Play on ARY News. He served on AAJ News as News Director. Prior to joining AAJ, he was leading the news team of Dunya News as Director of News and was the host of the program Kyun.

EARLY LIFE

Arshad Sharif was born in Karachi, Pakistan, to a Commander of the Pakistan Navy, Muhammad Sharif TI(M) TK.

He began his journalistic career as a freelancer in 1993 while he was still a student. He received his Master of Science in Public Administration from Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.

Journalistic CAREER

Sharif’s first media job was with a weekly publication, Pulse, for which he was a columnist, reporter, and managing editor in 1999.

He joined The News in 1999 and Daily Dawn in 2001.

Sharif covered conflicts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with a specialization in defence and foreign affairs. He reported for leading Pakistani news organizations from London, Paris, Strasbourg, and Kiel.

He was the winner of a 2012 Agahi Award.^[15] Sharif as anchor and Adeel Raja as producer won the 2016 Investigative Journalist of the Year Award for the programme Powerplay. In 2018, Sharif was awarded Agahi’s Peoples’ Choice Awards: Favourite Current Affairs Anchor – Male.

He started his programme Power Play on ARY News in 2014.

Sharif also headed AAJ News and Dunya TV as ‘Director News’.

He worked as a Bureau Chief of Dawn News in 2011.

In August 2022 Sharif fled Pakistan to avoid arrest after a number of accusations, including sedition charges over an interview with PTI leader Shahbaz Gill during which the latter had made controversial comments. Alleging threats to his life, Sharif moved to Dubai and later to Kenya.

PERSONAL LIFE

Arshad Sharif’s father Commander Muhammad Sharif died of a heart attack at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in May 2011.

His younger brother, Major Ashraf Sharif was killed when his car veered off the road on his way to attend the funeral of their father in May 2011. On hearing about the death of his father, Major Ashraf Sharif, left Bannu Cantonment refusing a chauffeur or escort.

A few kilometres away, his vehicle veered off the road and hit a tree, killing him.

Commander Muhammad Sharif and Major Ashraf Sharif were laid to rest with full military honours at the H-11 Graveyard.

DEATH

Sharif was shot and killed in Kajiado, Kenya by local police on 23 October 2022. The Kenyan police described the shooting as a case of “mistaken identity”, and there was speculation on social media that he had been assassinated.

On 24 October, the Kenyan Independent Police Oversight Authority announced an investigation into Sharif’s death.

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 26 September 2022. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.