KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday gave a three-day deadline to the Sindh police to arrest former Malir senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao Anwar.
The deadline was offered during a hearing of a suo motu case regarding the extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsood.
Naqeebullah, a 27-year-old hailing from South Waziristan, was among four men killed in an ‘encounter’ with a police team headed by Anwar in the Usman Khaskheli Goth on the outskirts of the metropolis.
Anwar had insisted at the time that Naqeebullah was a militant affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh A.D. Khowaja and Additional Inspector General (AIG) Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Sanaullah Abbasi were present in court during today’s hearing which conducted by a three-member bench headed by the CJP at the Supreme Court (SC) Karachi registry.
Khowaja told the court that after the first information report was lodged against Anwar, the police had traced his location to Islamabad. However, the IG was unable to tell the chief justice the current whereabouts of the former SSP.
Khowaja claimed that the police had “tried their best” to arrest Anwar but had so far been unable to do so.
On being asked when the police would be able to arrest and produce Anwar in court, Khowaja remained silent.
Naqeebullah’s father, who had also appeared in court, expressed his lack of trust in Sindh police and asked the court to form a judicial commission to investigate his son’s extra-judicial killing.
However, the CJP assured him that the court trusted the Sindh police and urged him to allow the joint investigation team and the police to continue with their investigation.
“A judicial commission cannot conduct a criminal investigation,” Justice Nisar told Naqeebullah’s father.
Justice Nisar asked Khowaja if he was under any political pressure to which the IGP replied in the negative. The CJP told him to work “freely” and vowed that the court will not let “honest officers fail”.
Officials from the Civil Aviation Authority had also been summoned and were ordered by the CJP to submit a report in the next hearing on whether the former SSP had flown out of the country on a private plane.
The case will now be heard on February 1.
‘If I knew where he has gone I would have arrested Anwar by now’
Speaking to the media outside the court, Khowaja said that he would try his best to uphold the court’s orders and arrest Anwar within three days. However, when answering a question regarding Anwar’s whereabouts, Kowaja said, “If I knew where he would run to I would already have caught Anwar and brought him here.”
“The chief justice has told us that he has directed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to take a certificate from all private (airline) operators that Anwar has not left the country. The interior ministry has also been told to confirm the same,” Khowaja said.
Concluding his talk, Khowaja said that his advice to Anwar would be for him to face the court, “He should adopt the legal course, I am sure the judicial system will safeguard his rights.”
