KARACHI: An antiterrorism court was informed on Saturday that then SSP Malir Rao Anwar and then DSP Qamar were not present at the time of the killing of an aspiring Waziristan model, Naqeebullah Mehsud, and three others in a staged encounter.

Former SSP Malir Rao Anwar along with his around two dozen subordinates has been charged with killing Naqeebullah and three others after dubbing them ‘Taliban militants’ in a ‘fake’ shoot-out on Jan 13, 2018.

On Saturday, the matter came up before the ATC-III judge, who is conducting the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, when the investigating officer produced a witness, an expert in geofencing of the call data record of mobile phones.

The witness, Inspector Hanif, deposed that he had prepared a report of geofencing regarding location of the accused persons on the day of the encounter.

He further deposed that Mr Anwar, Mr Qamar along with their nine to 10 subordinates were not present at the crime scene at the time of the encounter according to the call data record of their mobile phones.

He stated that the encounter took place between 3pm to 3.20pm, but the locations of ex-SSP Anwar, ex-DSP Qamar and their subordinates were recorded within the radius of the mobile tower of the relevant area after the encounter had already taken place.

The official testified that Mr Anwar was not present at the crime scene at the time of the encounter according to the call data record of his mobile phone.

Similarly, the location of Mr Qamar was recorded at 3.08pm at the Razzaqabad police training centre, the witness said, adding that Qamar had reached the crime scene after 3.30pm, while the encounter had already taken place.

The court also recorded statements of three other witnesses.

Later, the defence counsel for the accused cross-examined the witnesses.

The judge adjourned the matter till Dec 7 and summoned other witnesses for recording their testimonies on the next date.

According to the prosecution, Naqeebullah Mehsud, also known as Naseemullah, along with three other captives Sabir, Nazar Jan and Ishaq was killed in a fake encounter and dubbed as Taliban militants by a team of former SSP Anwar.

However, an investigation did not find any evidence of Naqeeb’s involvement in any terrorist activity.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2020