Daily Times

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), on Tuesday, granted bail to Malir’s former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case.

Approving the former SSP Malir’s bail plea, the ATC directed him to pay Rs1 million (mn) in bail bonds.

Anwar, along with 11 of his subordinates, is facing trial before the ATC for allegedly killing Naqeebullah Mehsud, a shopkeeper and aspiring model from South Waziristan, and three others in a staged encounter on January 13 in Malir.

Another case was registered against Anwar for possession of explosives and illegal weapons. He is yet to be granted bail in that case.

The hearing has been adjourned till July 27. According to the details, the ATC will take up the bail pleas of 11 of Anwar’s subordinates on July 16.

In a previous hearing held on July 5, the ATC had reserved its verdict on Anwar’s bail petition.

Speaking to the media after the hearing, the former SSP Malir said that he will reveal who ‘framed’ him in the murder case when the time comes.

“I will tell all when the time is right,” Anwar said. Claiming that he was named in the case owing to “malafide intentions”, Anwar said, “Today, it has been proven that I am innocent.”

“The case neither names those who picked up Naqeebullah nor those who killed him,” he maintained. “The real culprits will escape punishment,” added Rao Anwar.

“What was done with me is similar to what was done to frame a person in the Murtaza Bhutto murder case,” claimed the former Malir SSP.

Published in Daily Times, July 11^th 2018.