DIG South to conduct probe into killing of Waziristan youth in 'Karachi encounter’

KARACHI: Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal on Thursday has appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Zone Azad Khan as an investigation officer into Naseemullah alias Naqeebullah Mehsud encounter case.

Acting on notice of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the provincial home minister anticipated justice to be done in the case.

“I have appointed DIG police south zone Azad Khan as I.O [investigation officer] in Naqeeb Mehsood case, he is well reputed police officer I’m sure justice will be done,” he tweeted on Thursday.

On the other hand, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar has refuted the news making rounds on the social media that it was an ‘extrajudicial killing’.

According to Anwar, 27-year-old Mehsud from South Waziristan was involved in target killings, attacks on security forces and had an affiliation with the proscribed terror outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Anwar also claimed that Naqeebullah was a close aide of TTP commander Wahab and had possessed a fake National Identity Card with a name of Naseemullah.

Dismissing a social media campaign against him, SSP Rao Anwar reiterated that the deceased was a terrorist. “Police raided the terrorists’ hideout at Shah Latif town on a tip-off. The suspects fired on police and hurled hand grenades and in retaliatory firing all the terrorists were killed,” Anwar told media.

However, the acquaintances and relatives of Naseemullah have been denying the police claims, as what they say, the deceased was never involved in criminal activities. “Naseemullah disappeared from Sohrab Goth on January 3,” a relative told the media.

Naseemullah had arrived in Karachi a year ago and was running a garment shop at Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth, the relatives informed media.