An additional sessions judge in the district East of Karachi issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar on Tuesday, Dawn reported.

The SSP is a prosecution witness in cases that were lodged in 1992 against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founding member Saleem Shahzad. However, after Anwar failed to show up for the case hearing, the court ordered Karachi East Deputy Inspector General Sultan Ali Khowaja to arrest him.

When contacted by Dawn, Anwar said he had a meeting with Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal due to which he "forgot" to attend the hearing on Tuesday.

The SSP added that he will attend the hearing on November 25 to record his statement as a prosecution witness.

Multiple cases were registered against Shahzad at various police stations in Karachi in 1992. He was declared a proclaimed offender in the cases registered at Malir and Landhi police stations pertaining to kidnapping, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and rioting.

The MQM leader was also nominated in two cases pertaining to an attack on the house of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) chairman Afaq Ahmed's brother and the murder of MQM-H worker Shoaibullah in Landhi.

At that time, Anwar was posted as the station house officer at Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station and had arrested a suspect who confessed to committing murder and rioting across Karachi on Shahzad's orders.