Eight years for injustice

Naqeebullah Mehsud, the 27-year-old aspiring model from Waziristan whose murder in Karachi led to nationwide protests, will not receive justice. An anti-terrorism court in Karachi has acquitted the last seven suspects in the case, which has been running since a few weeks after his murder in January 2018. The latest round of acquittals brings the number of suspects walking free to 25, with the court citing "insufficient evidence" because not a single suspect came forward to say the encounter was staged. The only one that did - a head constable - later recanted, claiming he was pressured to identify the men and actually did not know who any of them were.

This was despite the fact that most of Pakistan already knew who at least some of the men were, including Rao Anwar, the disgraced and disgraceful "encounter specialist" alleged to maintain deep underworld connections. We also question how nobody was able to dig up any evidence against police officer Sheikh Muhammad Shoaib, whose nickname was "Shooter", allegedly due to his notoriety as an encounter specialist.

Anwar, the principal accused, was among 18 officers acquitted in January 2023, despite a joint investigation team holding him responsible. All of the acquittals have also again raised questions about whether law enforcement is incompetent, laws are poorly written, or the judiciary's expectations are too unrealistic, because when seemingly straightforward cases linger for years and the final decision still defies expectations, it is clear that something, somewhere, went very wrong.

The case was also the catalyst for the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which reached national stature due to its protests against extrajudicial killings after starting as a localised rights movement following military operations in Waziristan. Despite its wayward and controversial history, PTM pressure may have been the only reason the case was ever taken up. Now, it appears there is no one left to demand a reexamination of the case.