Member of Rao Anwar’s encounter squad arrested

KARACHI: A police official who served on the encounter team of former Malir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar which was involved in the extrajudicial killing of South Waziristan native, Naqeebullah Mehsud, in Karachi has been arrested on Friday.

According to reports, constable Shakeel was arrested in a joint operation by the police’s special unit and an intelligence agency. He was still posted in Malir despite the registration of an FIR [First Information Report] against him.

Shakeel had previously recorded his statement before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the high-profile case.

Earlier on April 7, Rao Anwar blamed five of his subordinates for their involvement in the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud.

The revelation was made by the former SSP Malir before the JIT formed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) and led by Sindh Additional IG Aftab Pathan.

The probe team completed its first session of investigation and recorded the initial statement of Rao Anwar and also visited the tea hotel from where Naqeebullah was arrested to record statements of witnesses.

Recording his statement before the JIT team, Anwar said that five of his subordinates are involved in Naqeebullah’s killing. He further said that some of the Sindh police officials are also hatching a conspiracy against him to frame him in the case.