KARACHI: A meeting conducted Saturday at the office of and headed by Aftab Pathan — the Additional Inspector General (AIG) — concluded that no substantial progress has been made in regard to the arrest of absconding official Rao Anwar and his accomplices, but decided to continue raids in a bid to locate him.
Anwar is wanted by the authorities in connection to the extrajudicial murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, who, along with three others, was killed on January 13 by a team led by the fugitive police official in an "exchange of fire" in Karachi's Shah Latif Town.
Earlier, sources informed Geo News that a meeting was underway to monitor the progress made in locating or the arrest of Anwar, with reports compiled by teams sent to Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) under review.
Decision to continue raids
The members of the committee formed to arrest or locate the absconding police officer and his team were in attendance, sources said.
Following an analysis of the investigation to date, as well as the reports from Islamabad team and a briefing from the KP team, it was decided that raids to search for Anwar and his accomplices are to be continued, the sources revealed, adding that the team also agreed to carry on seeking technical assistance from intelligence agencies.
Any location the intel points to should be raided, the team determined further.
Sources also noted that the team has opted to conduct an analysis of the investigation on a day-to-day basis in order to monitor the progress in the case.
The police team sent earlier to Islamabad to search for Anwar, however, has returned.
Naqeebullah murder case
Absconding police official Anwar and his police party went into hiding soon after an inquiry committee was formed, following claims of innocence from the family of Naqeebullah, the deceased.
A first information report (FIR) was subsequently registered against Anwar — the suspended Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) for Malir — and his associates owing to their no-show and alleged involvement in the case.
An earlier committee — headed by Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) AIG Sanaullah Abbasi — submitted its report on the case to the Supreme Court on Friday, which stated that Naqeebullah was killed in a "fake encounter" with the police.
Another prior committee — led by SSP for Investigation Zulfiqar Meher — also concluded the same in its report about the validity of the encounter.
Meanwhile, A.D. Khawaja — the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for Sindh — wrote a letter Sunday to intelligence agencies, seeking their help in arresting Anwar.
Khawaja had requested the intelligence agencies to provide technical assistance.
Anwar 'should face the court'
The letter for assistance reads that Anwar reached Islamabad through a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight on the morning of January 20 and attempted to flee to Dubai on January 23 but was barred from doing so by immigration officials.
Speaking to media outside the Supreme Court on Saturday, after the apex court's 72-hour deadline, the IGP Sindh had said, “I think that he [Rao Anwar] should face the court. The court will listen to his legal arguments.”
Responding to a question about the court's deadline, Khawaja remarked, “We will try our best to arrest him.”
Anwar was present on site of 'encounter'
An analysis of cellular data confirmed that Anwar was present at the scene of the "police encounter" where Mehsud was killed along with three others.
A technical analysis of Call Detail Records (CDRs) of the cell numbers in use of Anwar and his eight associates shows that the police officials were present at the scene of the encounter, an investigative report on the incident revealed Saturday.
Among Anwar’s associates present at the scene were assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) Khair Muhammad and Gada Hussain, sub-inspectors (SIs) Muhammad Anar, Amanullah Marwat, and Shoaib, head constables (HCs) Faisal Mehmood and Mohsin Abbass, and police constable (PC) Raja Shamim, the report stated.