Forensic expert testifies in Naqueebullah murder case
A forensic expert told the Special Anti-terrorism Court (ATC) that the bullet shells and the weapons found near the bodies of Naqueebullah Mehsud and other victims of the allegedly staged encounter matched.
The expert told the court that the weapons and the empty shells of police sent for the forensic test did not match.
The ATC judge has asked the prosecution and the defence to cross question the forensic expert in the next hearing due on July 15. The case hearing was held before a special court in anti-terrorism complex of the Karachi Central jail.
Former SSP Malir Rao Anwar and several suspects appeared before the court.
Read more: SHC dismisses Rao Anwar’s plea seeking exemption from attendance
Naqeebullah was killed on January 13, in a fake encounter staged by the then SSP of Karachi's Malir district, Rao Anwar.
Alongside Naqeebullah, three other men namely Muhammad Sabir and Muhammad Ishaq from Bahawalpur and Nazar Jan Mahsud from South Waziristan were also killed by the police in the staged encounter.
The fake encounter sparked countrywide protests against extrajudicial killings in Pakistan.
The special anti-terrorism court rejected the petition moved by the counsel of Naqeebullah's counsel Salahuddin Panhwar for accepting photocopied documents. According to Panwhar, the original documents could not be found.
The defence counsel had contended that photocopied documents could be tampered therefore the court should not accept these.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2021.