KARACHI: A Joint Investigation Team (JIT), formed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to investigate the murder of Naqeeb Mehsud, has named former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar Ahmed Khan the central person of interest in the staged encounter.
Mehsud, an aspiring model from the South Waziristan tribal region, was killed in a police encounter by a team led by former SSP of Malir district in Karachi on Jan. 13 of this year.

The death sparked protests, pushing the police to investigate. A team headed by Additional IG Counterterrorism Department, Dr. Sanaullah Abbasi, subsequently declared the encounter a staged one.
The apex court on March 24 formed a Joint Investigation Team headed by Aftab Ahmed Pathan, additional IG of Sindh, to investigate the incident. The JIT was composed of Waliullah Dal, additional IG Special Branch; Azad Ahmed Khan, DIG South; Zulfiqar Larik, DIG East; and Dr. Rizwan Ahmed, SSP Central Karachi.
The JIT report, a copy of which was made available to Arab News, has declared Rao Anwar the prime suspect in this case.
“The statement of former SSP Rao Anwar and witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the Pakistan Penal Code, location of Call Detail Record (CDR), CDs of interviews of Rao Anwar with media and investigation till this day prove that Rao Anwar is central character and leader of the team which picked up Naqeebullah, Mohammed Ishaq, Mohammed Sabir and Nazar Jan, and declared them terrorists and then killed them in a fake police encounter,” reads the report.
“In light of this evidence, former SSP Rao Anwar and the absconding policemen are found guilty,” reads the JIT report.

The JIT report has rejected claims by Rao Anwar that he did not appear before the JIT which he considers biased. "The JIT held several meetings on the given dates and places and interrogated former SSP Raj Anwar Ahmed Khan on two occasions.” 
According to the report, the JIT members also took Rao Anwar to the spot of the encounter at 17:50 on March 31, 2018. “The JIT held several meetings and in a few of these, former SSP Rao Anwar Ahmed was interrogated after which the report was compiled. Rao was asked to present proofs in his defense which he failed to produce.”
“Rao couldn’t produce proofs of his non-involvement in the encounter and continued to avoid sharing facts whereas it was proved that Rao was present at the spot during the encounter; it has also been proved that the encounter was a fake one,” the report reads.
According to the JIT report, the phone call activity of phone numbers used by the accused former SSP Rao Anwar shows that “the former SSP was present on the spot of the murder at 2:43 p.m. on the day the encounter occurred."
According to the JIT, the investigators found no criminal record for Mohammed Sabir s/o Mohammed Bux and Mohammed Ishaq s/o Raheem Bux who were picked up from Shujaabad, Multan and Ahmedpur Sharqia, Bahawalpur on Nov. 9-10, 2017. Both Sabir and Ishaq were killed along with Mehsud.
Commenting on the JIT report, Jibran Nasir, a lawyer and campaigner working closely with Mehsud’s family in order to serve justice, said that the report may have proven Rao Anwar guilty of murdering Naqeeb Mehsud but it tells nothing about those who hid Rao Anwar. “It doesn’t tell us how Sabir and Ishaq were picked up in Punjab and brought to Karachi to be killed by Rao.”

It is relevant to mention that a member of the Joint Investigation Team had confirmed to Arab News on April 22, 2018, that Anwar was found responsible for the murder of Mehsud.
On April 5, Anwar filed a petition asking for the inclusion of representatives of “the intelligence agencies, armed forces and civil armed forces.”
Anwar, who is accused of killing Mehsud in a fake police encounter, alleges that the slain Pashtun model was an active member of banned terrorist groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al-Qaeda, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). However, the evidence subsequently began to pile up against the police team involved in the killing.
As pressure mounted on Anwar, he decided to go underground and made a botched attempt to fly out of Pakistan. He also wrote letters to the Supreme Court after the top court began a suo motu hearing into Mehsud’s death, telling the judges that the system was heavily stacked against him and he was not hopeful of getting justice.
In a surprise move last month, the absconding police officer came to the court which handed him over to the Sindh police.
Anwar’s lawyer told the chief justice that his client had “surrendered” and wanted protective bail. However, the Supreme Court turned down the request and ordered the law enforcement authorities to jail him.