SSP Rao Anwar appears before probe team in Naqeeb killing case

KARACHI - Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar on Friday appeared before an inquiry committee, probing killing of a Waziristan yout, Naqeebullah in a police encounter in Karachi.

A three-member committee, comprising Additional IG CTD Sanaullah Abbasi, DIG East Sultan Khawaja and DIG South Azad Khan, was set up after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari ordered Sindh law minister to launch an investigation into the case.

Talking to media briefly, he said that Naqeeb Mehsual, whose name is Naseemullah on his national identity card, was 100 percent terrorist and wanted to police in a 2014 kidnapping case.

He claimed that some elements were trying to frame him in this case for political reasons. He accused Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) of defaming him because of lodging two cases against PTI member Haleem Adil Sheikh.

Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal directed DIG Police South Zone to submit a report after completing an inquiry into the matter within 15 days.

The SSP Malir, on January 13, had claimed to have killed four alleged terrorists belonging to TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in a police encounter at Shah Latif Town. One of the killed alleged terrorists was Naqeeb Mehsud.

However, the relatives of the deceased claimed that he was abducted by plain-clothed officials from Gul Sher Agha Hotel in Sohrab Goth on January 3 and then murdered in an extrajudicial encounter.

According to Noor Rehman Mehsud, Naqib’s cousin, the family went to Sohrab Goth police station to register a complaint against his kidnapping, but the police refused to register an FIR. “We only recognized Naqib after police had released the pictures of suspects,” he further added.

Noor said that they went to Sohrab Goth Edhi Center to verify the media reports. Despite the verification by the center’s officials, the police only gave the certificate to collect the body after four days.



Claims by the Police

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwaar, who supervised the encounter, has rejected the family’s claim that Naseem was abducted before he was shot dead in an encounter.

According to private media outlet The News, Rao Anwaar shared a confidential document with them that claims Naseem alias Naqeeb was a former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)  for Makeen in South Waziristan.

Naqeeb was involved in martyring a junior commissioned officer Muhammad Alam of Pakistan Army in 2007, and was also involved in the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak in 2013, Anwaar told The News. He added that he had also killed his cousin Aijaz Mehsud in 2009 after he became suspicious of him for spying for the army.

The SSP also told the media outlet that Naqeeb had served as a gunman for a top TTP leader Baitullah Mehsud from 2004 to 2009 and was motivated by his brother-in-law Sher Dawood Mehsud to join the terrorist group. According to the officer’s account, the dead was trained by the TTP’s Ustad Ali.