IG Sindh gets three days to arrest Rao Anwar in Naqeeb case

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Saturday set three-day deadline for provincial police chief Allah Dino Khowaja to arrest former SSP Malir Rao Anwar in the murder case of aspiring fashion model Naqeebullah Mehsud.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, a three-judge bench, was hearing a suo motu case at the apex court’s Karachi registry, pertaining to the death of 27-year-old man in an allegedly fake police encounter.

At the outset, the IG Sindh informed the bench that former SSP Malir Rao Anwar is on the run. The police had made every possible effort to nab him, but to no avail, he added.

CJP asked him to inform if someone was providing the absconding police officer shelter from police in Karachi.

There were many people who can offer him a hiding place here, he remarked.

IG Khowaja expressed apprehension that Anwar might have fled the country. When asked to give a time frame for his arrest, he asked for three days’ time.

The chief justice directed the provincial police chief to ensure his arrest within three days. He also summoned travel history of the police officer from the relevant authorities.

Naqeeb’s father requested the chief justice to appoint a judicial commission to probe his son’s killing in the fake encounter.

On this, CJP Nisar said the judicial commission was not a solution as police alone could carry out better probe into the matter.

He said judicial commission could not probe a criminal case, adding that he had faith in the Sindh police as there were some police officers having good reputation in the department.

The chief justice further directed the IG to independently proceed with the matter without any pressure.

Anwar, who led the encounter in which the young man was killed along with three others, was summoned to the court to explain his position, but he didn’t turn up.

Anwar and his team are believed to have gone into hiding after the registration of a murder case against them. They have insisted that all the four men killed in the encounter were terrorists.

FIR No 40/18 under sections 365, 344, 302, 109 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act has been registered at the Sachal Goth police station on the complaint of Naqeeb’s father Muhammad Khan against SSP Rao Anwar and his team.

Inquiry report

A day earlier, an inquiry committee investigating Naqeebullah Mehsud’s ‘extrajudicial’ killing submitted its report to the Supreme Court.

In the 15-page report, the committee declared Naqeebullah innocent and rejected the claims made by SSP Anwar in light of the evidences.

The report asserts that Naqeebullah alongside two other men, Qasim and Hazrat Ali, was picked up by policemen in plain clothes on January 3.

The other two men were set free after three days on January 6 after giving bribes for their safe release.

The men have now become eye-witnesses in the case and recorded their statements before the inquiry committee, the probe committee stated in its report.

The committee said that as many as 26 bullet casings of sub-machine guns have been recovered from the site and no evidence has been found of firing from the victims [alleged terrorists].

Moreover, it says that police have been conducting raids to arrest the police officers involved in the incident but no major breakthrough could be achieved as the suspended cops have turned off their mobile phones and went in hiding.