ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protective bail to former SSP Malir Rao Anwar in Naqeebullah Killing case and ordered him to appear before the court on Friday.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, issued the orders, besides directing the police not to arrest him, who is still at large.
The orders were issued in the backdrop of a letter sent by Anwar to the chief justice, stating that he was ready to cooperate in investigation if new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is set up.
Quoting the chief justice, Geo News on Monday reported that Rao Anwar has told the chief justice that he has no role in the encounter of Naqeebullah. Anwar claimed that he was not present when Mehsud was killing in Karachi last month.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/naqeebullah-case-rao-anwar-available-to-media-but-police-fail-to-track-him/
Earlier, the apex court gave two deadlines to the Sindh police to arrest the accused police officer, who went disappeared since an investigation committee was set up to probe the extra-judicial killing of the South Waziristan youth.
The Sindh Inspector General of Police AD Khawaja also attended the hearing and informed the court that the escaped Rao Anwar could not be traced yet.
The chief justice expressed anger over the IG Sindh, stating that police efforts to trace Anwar brought zero results.
Furthermore, the apex court ordered the formation of a new joint investigation team (JIT). He also directed to include brigadier-rank official of the IInter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) and an official of the Intelligence Bureau in the JIT.
Encounter
On January 12, a police encounter took place in Shah Latif Town of Karachi under the supervision of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar. During this shoot-out, four alleged members of banned outfit Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed. Amongst these four alleged terrorists was 27-years-old Naseemullah, alias Naqeeb Mehsud.
Ever since his killing, disputed claims have emerged from his family that Naqeeb was abducted on 3rd January and his killing is extrajudicial. These claims have caused a social media uproar.
Later, a high-profile committee was set up which rejected the claims of Rao Anwar and declared Naqeebullah innocent.
