SC grants Rao Anwar protective bail, orders former SSP to appear on Friday

–In a letter to CJP, Rao Anwar has claimed that he was innocent and was not present at the time of Naqeebullah’s killing by a police team

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday granted protective bail to former SSP Malir Rao Anwar in the Naqeebullah Mehsud extrajudicial killing case and asked him to appear in court on Friday.

The case was being heard by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar at the Islamabad registry.

Earlier, the SC had given 10 days to the Sindh police to arrest the accused; however, no breakthrough was made with regards to his arrest, although some other police officials allegedly involved in the staged encounter have been arrested.

During the hearing Sindh Inspector General (IG) AD Khowaja on Tuesday told the court that a committee had been constituted to find Anwar’s location. He told the bench that the reports compiled by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in this regard have also been furnished.

Khawaja told the court that the authorities have been handling the matter as a high-profile case, adding that the police was trying to trace the location of Anwar’s cell phone. With regards to tracing the suspended Malir SSP with the help of WhatsApp, the IGP said that even IB was unable to trace him.

The chief justice, however, reprimanded the provincial police chief, pointing out that the “result of all these efforts was zero”. “Each and every time, we provide you time for the arrest of Anwar ,but it seems that we ourselves have to arrest him,” the CJP said, producing a letter in court which bore Anwar’s signature.

Quoting a letter written to him by Rao Anwar, the chief justice said the suspended SSP said he was innocent and was not present at the time of the encounter.

The Supreme Court restrained Sindh police from arresting former SSP Malir Rao Anwar facing charges of leading a fake encounter which resulted in the death of aspiring fashion model Naqeebullah Mehsud.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who heard a suo motu case regarding the extrajudicial murder of Naqeeb, directed the police not to arrest the suspended police officer. He directed Anwar, who has been eluding the police since registration of a murder case against him, to appear before the court on next hearing on Friday.

The chief justice ordered that the absconding police officer would be provided protection and a joint investigation team would be formed in line with his demands to probe the charges against him.