KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday disposed of Naqeebullah’s father Muhammad Khan’s petition seeking cancellation of an earlier Sindh government notification declaring former Malir SSP Rao Anwar’s house as a sub-jail.
A two-member bench of the SHC heard the plea filed by Khan for the withdrawal of his earlier petition for declaring Anwar’s houses as sub-jail. Faisal Siddiqui, counsel of the petitioner, told the court that his client did not wish to follow the matter further since the accused had been granted bail in the case.
The former police officer is the prime suspect in the extra-judicial murder of aspiring Waziristan model Naqeebullah and four others.
Anwar is currently facing trial in an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi.
Last year, through a notification, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal declared the former cop’s house a sub-jail citing “threats” to his life. The decision was challenged by Muhammad Khan, who stressed that the treatment extended to Anwar by allowing “detention in his own home declared as a sub-jail is a simple continuation of the VVIP treatment being accorded to an alleged terrorist”.
Shortly after the news of the fake encounter surfaced, a high-level inquiry committee comprising senior police officials found that Naqeebullah was killed in a “staged” encounter on January 13, 2018.
The incident caused outrage leading to countrywide protests. The Supreme Court of Pakistan took a suo motu notice of the matter and summoned Anwar – who went into hiding.
On January 23, 2018, Anwar was caught by immigration officials at the Islamabad airport trying to board a Dubai-bound flight. However, the former cop, again, went missing after eluding law enforcement agencies.
He finally appeared before the apex court on March 21, 2018, and was arrested on the directives of former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar.
