Probe committee finds Naqeebullah innocent, seeks Rao Anwar’s arrest: report

• Probe body suggests SSP Malir, other personnel be put on ECL

The committee formed to probe the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud in a “fake encounter” on January 13 has termed Malir SSP Rao Anwar’s allegations against the 27-year-old “baseless” and suggested the senior police official be put on the Exit Control List (ECL), a private news channel has reported citing official sources.

In its initial report, the committee stated that there was no proof found of Naqeebullah being a terrorist and that the claims made by Anwar of Naqeebullah being unmarried and others were also untrue.

Furthermore, the 2014 FIR Anwar had presented to the committee was also bogus.

The committee in the report recommended registration of a case against Rao Anwar and other personnel involved in Naqeebullah’s extrajudicial killing.

Earlier in the day, SSP Rao Anwar appeared before the enquiry committee, headed by Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Sanaullah Abbasi, and produced the criminal record of the alleged terrorist Naqeebullah Mehsud.

The SSP recorded his statement with the enquiry committee which also visited the crime scene in Shah Latif Town and collected evidence from where the ‘encounter’ took place.

Committee head Sanaullah Abbasi said the committee would make sure it adopted a multi-dimensional approach to the investigation. He also said that the team would further question Qari Ahsan, an alleged TTP member, said to be Naqeebullah’s close associate.

Qari Ahsan had earlier denied having worked with Mehsud or known him after the accused SSP had claimed his connection with Qari Ahsan.

Earlier in the day, a huge sit-in was staged by different political, social activists and human rights organisations on Friday against the extrajudicial killing of Naqeeb Mehsood of Waziristan in Karachi’s Malir area.

A large number of people, including workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by PTI Sindh president Arif Alvi, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Imran Ismail, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, besides civil society members, and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and workers reached the Super Highway and staged a sit-in against the extrajudicial murder of Naqeeb Mahsood in an encounter by SSP Malir Rao Anwar.

The protesters burnt tyres on the Super Highway, suspending traffic for many hours. They chanted slogans against SSP Malir Rao Anwar demanding his immediate removal. The protesters also pelted passing vehicles with stones. The police resorted to aerial firing to disperse the protesters, which left two citizens injured.

Speaking to the protesters, PTI’s Arif Alvi said Rao Anwar killed Naqeebullah Mehsud in a “fake encounter”. He also charged the SSP Malir with killing many other men in ‘fake encounters’ in the past in Karachi. While demanding a judicial inquiry into the incident, Alvi said that PTI will continue to protest until Rao Anwar is removed from his post. He said that they did not believe in Sindh police’s inquiry committee either.

Expressing similar views, Haleem Adil Sheikh said that Rao Anwar presented the incident in a wrong way, adding that they also had a video clipping of the Ibrahim Hyderi school incident. He demanded to dole out justice to the victim’s family as soon as possible. Due to the protest, all the traffic on the Super Highway came to standstill.