Jirgas to take out rallies against Rao Anwar in Karachi

KARACHI: The Pashtun Qaumi Jirga (PQJ) has announced to take out rallies in various parts of the city on Sunday against controversial cop Rao Anwar and his entire team for killing Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake encounter.

Naqeebullah was an ordinary citizen, aspiring to become a model and was working as a small time labourer in Karachi.

Soon after the January 13 encounter in which the police party claimed that they killed Naqeeb and three other men- whom they described as militants- Naqeeb’s friends started a social media campaign demanding justice for the youth who they claimed had nothing to do with terrorism.

The PQJ was formed by people belonging to the Mehsud tribes in Karachi following the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud and three others in an alleged encounter conducted on January 13, in Shah Latif area.

This was decided during a meeting held at Sohrab Goth on Super Highway which was attended by large number of Jirga senior representatives including Haji Karam Ali Khan, Haji Gul, Haji Mehmood Khan Mehsud and Shamsur Rehman as well as representatives from the various Pashtun communities and civil societies. The Jirga members also announced to stage a protest outside the Karachi Press Club.

A five member of JIT headed by Additional IG Sindh Aftab Pathan is investigating the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud while the SSP Anwar is already in the custody of the JIT officials since SSP Anwar surrendered himself at the Supreme Court about two weeks ago.

The leaders of the Jirga announced that the participants of the public rallies would reach the Karachi Press Club at around 3pm where they will stage a protest against the SSP Anwar and his team. “Our demand is to treat SSP Anwar like other criminals,” they added.

Sindh government and other organisations should stop supporting him,” the Jirga members told the participants of the meeting. “We will continue to stage protests and hold public rallies if our demands are not fulfilled or the promises by government and the law enforcement agencies regarding the justice are not fulfilled,” they added.