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KARACHI: The family of Naqeeb Mehsud, the aspiring Pashtun male model who was killed on Jan. 13 in what they claim was a falsely staged police encounter, told Arab News on Tuesday that they have been approached by “influential friends” of fugitive senior superintendent of police Rao Anwar and pressured to drop terrorism charges against him.
Mehsud, 27, was one of four men killed in an encounter with a police team headed by Anwar on the outskirts of Goth Usman Khaskheli. Anwar has claimed that Mehsud was a terrorist involved in several murders and with ties to Daesh.
Mehsud’s family are adamant that they will not drop their case against the group.
“We will not succumb to any pressure. Our struggle will continue until Anwar and his accomplices are hanged,” Noor Rehman Mehsud, Naqeeb’s cousin, told Arab News.
Meanwhile, police have intensified their efforts to arrest Anwar and his core team members for their extrajudicial killings.
“We are conducting raids and a police party, headed by SSP Zulfikar Mehar, has reached Islamabad to arrest Rao Anwar,” Superintendent Abid Qaimkhani told Arab News.
Qaimkhani said six policemen have so far been arrested but confirmed that none of Anwar’s core team members, including DSP Qamar, SHO Amanullah Marwat, officials Chaudhry Faisal and Shoaib Shooter, and constable Raza, had yet been apprehended.
Inspector General Dino Khawaja of the Sindh police, who have already missed the deadline set by Pakistan’s Supreme Court to arrest Anwar, sent a letter on Monday to the chiefs of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI), seeking their help in locating the police officer who, according to Khawaja, has damaged the image of the police force.
Activists have raised questions about the police investigation and the competence of those running the search for the fugitive officer.
“If Rao Anwar is at large after the Sindh police chief has requested help from the intelligence agencies — and after the Sindh government has approached other provinces for help — it would imply that he is either smarter than all of them or that the state machinery is incompetent,” Jibran Nasir, a rights activist, told Arab News.
He pointed out that Anwar was known to enjoy the patronage of political leaders, real estate tycoons and intelligence agencies alike, adding that it was notable Anwar had been posted in District Malir for almost a decade, an unusually long time.
Nasir said he was concerned that if Mehsud’s family dropped the terrorism charges Anwar could easily escape conviction under the diyat (compensation) law.
“All that Naqeeb’s father, his relatives, and thousands of those who raised their voice for justice in this case on different forums want is a legal precedent that can bring an end to such dreadful extrajudicial killings in the future,” said Ali Arqam, an activist who first broke the news of Naqeeb’s murder on social media.
Members of the Mehsud and other Pashtun tribes began a protest march toward Islamabad on January 26. They were expected to reach the federal capital on Thursday and to gather at the National Press Club.
Mehsud’s father, Mohammed Khan, stressed that the issue was not just his son’s murder, but those of all victims of extrajudicial killings.
“I would not let another Naqeeb die like this in the future,” he said.