The release of the trailer for Behind Closed Doors caused quite a stir in Pakistan on its release. Various rumours began to circulate that the film had been produced by Netflix, a government minister then claimed the film was funded by the opposition PTI party. “Where did the funding for the movie come from?.... That’s where they (PTI) spend all their secret [prohibited] funding,” claimed the minister. (https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1001199-behind-closed-doors-musadik-malik-sees-pti-behind-anti-sharif-documentary)
Tragically, one of the main participants in the documentary, the fearless and popular Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was shot and killed in Kenya a week after the release of the trailer. The Kenyan police took responsibility for the killing, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity.
My collaborator Murtaza Mehdi was in contact with Arshad and always found him responsive and supportive of our documentary project. Personally, I had only met Arshad Sharif once, when we went to Pakistan to film the interview. Arshad struck me as charismatic, positive and entirely genuine. He was fearless in his reporting and had a vast knowledge of politics in Pakistan and the corruption of the Sharif family. He was also critical of the country’s military. The channel he had worked for as an anchor for 8 years, ARY, was temporarily shut down in August, after it was allowed to re-open the channel parted ways with Arshad Sharif. The authorities in Pakistan appear to have increased the pressure on Arshad Sharif after Shahbaz Sharif (no relation) became Prime Minister in April. He is said to have left Pakistan after receiving death threats. Initially he fled to the UAE and later relocated to Kenya where he was shot and killed by the police.
There are numerous questions about the incident and how it took place. Pakistanis and the world are expecting a thorough investigation by the authorities as to why this should not be viewed as a targeted killing. Pakistani medical experts in their autopsy report stated “that a mild-blackening was found around the bullet injury at the backside of the chest which could happen only if the bullet was fired from close range — with a distance of four feet or less.” (https://www.dawn.com/news/1717466) Investigators further stated that Arshad’s corpse revealed signs of torture.
Going back to the release of the trailer, a rumour seems to have been sparked that Arshad was in Kenya working on the documentary and had met John-Allan Namu who features in the documentary. John-Allan confirmed he had not met Arshad. However, by that time many people were already under the impression that Arshad Sharif was part of the production team.
Then a Pakistani Tv anchor by the name of Mubasher Lucman with 5.9 million Twitter followers and 2 million YouTube followers claimed he had made the documentary and would release it soon on his YouTube channel.
And finally, Imran Khan who also features in the documentary survived an assassination attempt (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/03/imran-khan-shot-in-assassination-attempt-in-pakistan) on the 3rd of November 2022, suffering multiple gunshot wounds.
We hope to premier the film at the beginning of next year. We already had a press screening on the 15th of December, with a small but diverse and interested group of journalists.