The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday accepted an application filed by the father of Naqeebullah Mehsud — a Waziristan native killed in a staged encounter in Karachi earlier this year — to transfer the case relating to his son's murder to another anti-terrorism court (ATC).

A division bench headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh ordered that the case be transferred to another court. The ATC that will hear the case in the future will be announced by the court's administrative office.

Former Malir SSP Rao Anwar, then DSP Qamar Ahmed Shaikh, and their 10 detained and 14 absconding subordinates have been booked for allegedly killing four men, including Mehsud, in a fake shoot-out in Shah Latif Town on January 13 this year and, separately for foisting fake recoveries of illicit arms and explosives on the victims.

Mohammad Khan, the slain model’s father, had approached the SHC in July after ATC-II judge Khalida Yaseen granted post-arrest bail in the murder case to undertrial former SSP Anwar, who was kept in a temporary detention facility in Multan Lines in Malir Cantonment.

The applicant had shown no confidence in the ATC-II judge and had sought transfer of Mehsud's murder and other connected cases to any other court of law.

During today's hearing, the chief justice asked Anwar's lawyer whether it was appropriate for the ATC-II judge to amend the order regarding the former SSP's bail plea twice in one day.

"The prosecutor has also accepted that the observations of the ATC judge are not appropriate," Justice Shaikh remarked.

Accepting the application filed by Mehsud's father, the bench subsequently ordered that the case be transferred from the ATC-II judge.

Hearing of plea against bail adjourned

Meanwhile, the SHC adjourned till November 26 the hearing of another application filed by Mehsud's father seeking revocation of the bail granted to Anwar and ex-DSP Qamar in a case pertaining to allegedly foisting fake recoveries on the victims and lodging false criminal cases against them.

The hearing was adjourned without any proceedings on the matter. However, the court issued notices to ex-SSP Anwar, former DSP Qamar and prosecutor general of Sindh.

The application filed by Barrister Faisal Siddiqui on behalf of Mehsud's father argues that the trial court had approved the suspects' bails without hearing the complainants and without taking the evidence into consideration.