ATC administrative judge wants Rao Anwar arrested before February 19

Four arrested police officials refuse to confess to their involvement in Naqeebullah's murder

KARACHI: The administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts directed the police on Wednesday to make 'all possible' efforts to arrest former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and other absconding police officers in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case before February 19.

Six police officials, Sub-Inspector Mohammad Yasin, Assistant Sub-Inspector Supurd Hussain, Assistant Sub-Inspector Allahyar, Head Constable Khizar Hayat, Head Constable Mohammad Iqbal and Constable Arshad Ali were arrested on January 26 for their alleged involvement in the abduction and killing of 24-year-old Naseemullah Mehsud alias Naqeebullah in a staged encounter on January 13 in Shah Latif Town. The officials were sent on physical remand after their arrests.

On Wednesday, the investigation officer (IO), SSP Abid Ali Qaimkhani, produced Yasin and Hussain before the administrative judge and informed that they were no more required for investigations. The other four suspects were brought by jail authorities.



The IO informed the administrative judge that the four suspects were produced on Tuesday before a Malir judicial magistrate to record their confessional statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The IO submitted a copy of the order passed by the judicial magistrate along with remand papers, which stated that after completing legal formalities, the four suspects were individually asked to voluntarily confess. However, they refused to confess and claimed that they were not the real culprits.

The administrative judge sent the remaining two police officers to prison on judicial remand till February 19 and directed the IO to make all possible efforts to arrest SSP Anwar and other absconders till the next hearing.



According to the prosecution, policemen in plainclothes had picked up Naqeebullah and his two friends from a teashop on Abul Hassan Ispahani Road on January 3, kept them in illegal detention and tortured them. Three days later, the two friends were released on the Super Highway.

On January 17, Naqeebullah's relatives came to know through the media that SSP Anwar and his associates allegedly killed him and three others in an 'encounter' in the Shah Latif Town, claiming that they were Taliban militants.

Later, the IG constituted a three-member inquiry committee, which found that the encounter was fake and SSP Anwar and his associates were involved in Naqeebullah's extrajudicial killing.