Naqeeb’s father disheartened over police’s inability to arrest Rao Anwar

ISLAMABAD: Father of Naqeebullah Mehsud, Malik Muhammad Khan, on Thursday questioned the intentions of the state institutions, saying the authorities’ failure to arrest former Malir SSP Rao Anwar, despite a lapse of 40 days, raises questions over their performance.

“The failure to apprehend the most wanted man not only caused a widespread resentment among millions of Pakistanis, particularly Pashtuns, but it also brought disgrace to the country on a global level,” the father of the deceased said.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Khan categorically refuted the “misleading reports” of any deal with Anwar.

“Our opponents are running a propaganda that we are going to strike a deal with Rao Anwar,” he said. “I cannot pardon the killer of my son if I am offered Rs200 billion,” he said. “Rao Anwar should be brought to the court in chains,” he demanded.

“Naqeebullah Mehsud was not only my son, he was the son of the entire nation,” Muhammad Khan told media-persons.

Earlier, the focal person of Grand Jirga, Saifur Rehman, expressed astonishment over the government and state institutions’ failure to round up Rao Anwar despite clear directives by the apex court.

He demanded that the federal and provincial governments and all other concerned quarters should speed up their efforts to arrest the culprit, besides implementing the demands of the Islamabad Pashtun sit-in.

He made it clear that the Grand Jirga spearheading the case of Naqeeb Shaheed would launch countrywide demonstrations if Rao Anwar is not produced in the Supreme Court by the next hearing.

Naqeeb Mehsud, a Waziristani man, was among four suspects killed in a fake police encounter in the Usman Khaskheli Goth area of Karachi the peripheries of the city on January 13.

Anwar had alleged that Naqeeb was the member of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but the police investigations team had found Naqeeb innocent.

When asked about former president Asif Ali Zardari’s remarks that Anwar is a brave man, Rehman stated that the statement by the former president had hurt the sentiments of millions of people.

“We cannot expect such statement from a member of martyred family [in an apparent reference to Bhuttos]; however, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) will not back such a notorious officer like Rao Anwar,” he hoped.