Police suspect personal issues behind murder of Naqeebullah’s friend

PESHAWAR: The preliminary investigation into the murder of one of the active participants of the recent Pakhtun protest sit-in in Islamabad has revealed that the motive behind the killing seems to be some personal issues, officials said on Sunday.

Aftab Mehsud, a student of Gomal University, was one of the active participants of the sit-in staged by Pakhtuns from Fata to demand arrest of suspended SSP Rao Anwar, the main accused in the January 13 murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake police encounter in Karachi. Aftab Mehsud’s body was found in an under-construction building in Naqshband Town in the limits of the Saddar Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday.

“The police recovered empties of 9 mm pistol from the spot. We have been investigating the case on priority basis. And pieces of evidence collected so far indicate that some personal issue was the motive behind the murder,” District Police Officer DI Khan Dr Zahidullah Khan told The News. He added that the police were hopeful that the culprits would be nabbed soon.

The news of the murder of Aftab Mehsud, 19, a friend of Naqeebullah Mehsud, went viral on the social media as many suspected it had some connection with the killing of Naqeebullah. Rao Anwar is still at large despite the efforts of the Karachi Police and the intervention of the Supreme Court, which took suo moto notice of the incident.

The tribal youth, later joined by many Pakhtun youth and political leaders from all over the country, staged a sit-in for 10 days until February 10 in Islamabad to demand the arrest of Rao Anwar, recovery of the missing Pakhtuns in Karachi and Waziristan, payment of compensation to those killed in fake police encounters and stopping the harassment of tribal people at the security checkpoints in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.