Naqeebullah murder trial nearing end as final arguments begin

Karachi: The high-profile trial of Malir’s former senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao Anwar and his around two dozen subordinates accused of shooting to death an aspiring model from South Waziristan, Naqeebullah Mehsud, in a staged encounter has entered the final stage on Thursday when an anti-terrorism court began hearing final arguments.

Anwar and other police officers face charges of murdering Naseebullah, better known as Naqeebullah, and three others – Muhammad Ishaque, Nazar Jan and Muhammad Sabir – in a fake encounter on January 13, 2018 after dubbing them militants.

The ATC-XVI judge is conducting the trial in the judicial complex inside the Karachi central prison. As he resumed the hearing of the case on Thursday, Rao Anwar and other police officials turned up before the court. The prosecution side as well as the complainant’s lawyer advanced their final arguments, after which the judge adjourned the hearing until December 6 when it would hear arguments from the defence side.

Advocate Salahuddin Panhwar, the counsel for the victim’s late father, Muhammad Khan, submitted that the case involved three episodes: the abduction of three men, including Naqeeb, his illegal detention and later extrajudicial killing. There was sufficient material, as well as ocular and forensic evidence available on record, to corroborate the charges against the accused, he argued, pleading with the court to punish the accused according to law.

According to the prosecution, the victim, along with two others – Hazrat Ali and Muhammad Qasim – was kidnapped from a hotel on Abul Hassan Isfahani Road and illegally detained at various places before being handed over to the Malir police on January 6, adding that the other two abductees were released. Days later, Naqeeb and three others were gunned down inside a house in Usman Khaskheli Goth in a fake encounter.

It said the call data record showed Rao Anwar’s presence at the crime scene and near the New Sabzi Mandi on the Super Highway on January 4, 5, 8, 9 and 13. However, Rao Anwar in his statement before the court denied the allegations of being involved in the extrajudicial killings and testified that he was not present at the place of the occurrence at the time of the incident, nor did he ever visit new Sabzi Mandi between January 4 and 6, 2018. He claimed that he was implicated in the case on the basis of “managed geo-fencing and call data record” at the behest of a senior police officer he had professional rivalry with.