A Pakistani lawyer says the country's supreme court has given police three days to arrest an absconding officer involved in the killing of an aspiring model in a "fake shootout."

Attorney Nazeer Mehsud says suspended police officer Rao Anwar did not appear at a hearing Saturday and the chief justice ordered his arrest.

Anwar went into hiding after an investigation found him guilty of murdering model Naqeebullah Mehsud in what it deemed was a staged shootout.

Anwar had maintained that Mehsud was a militant belonging to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan group, without providing evidence to support the claim.

Mehsud's death triggered violent protests in his eastern Karachi and a protest sit-in by Mehsud tribe's is still ongoing.