ATC denies bail to two policemen in Naqeebullah murder case

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday denied bail to two policemen allegedly involved in the murder of Waziristan resident Naqeebullah Mehsud.

During a hearing of the case on Thursday, former SSP Rao Anwar  — who ordered the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud and three others on mere suspicion of terrorism —appeared before the court along with other policemen involved in the incident.

According to a report by Geo.tv, the court rejected the bail pleas of two policemen, identified as Faisal and Anaar.

During the hearing, the prosecutor produced three witnesses who identified the phone numbers of  Rao Anwar, Shoaib Shooter, and Amanullah Marwat.

According to the prosecutor, the three policemen had contacted each other via the identified phone numbers when the incident had occurred.

The next hearing of the case has been adjourned until March 17, 2021, while the court also directed the prosecutors to present more witnesses in the next hearing of the case, the report said.

It should be recalled that Naqeebullah Mehsud, 27 and a resident of Waziristan, was among three others who were accused of being terrorists and killed on January 13, 2018, on the orders of then Malir SSP Rao Anwar, in what was later termed a fake encounter.

The former Malir SSP and around 20 of his subordinates have been charged with killing Naqeebullah and three other persons, Sabir, Nazar Jan and Ishaq, in a fake encounter after dubbing them as 'Taliban militants.'