Islamabad March 14 (TNS): It is no one else but the top judge of the country, who seems to be in correspondence with the absconding and fugitive police officer Rao Anwar —wanted in a fake encounter case involving murder of four persons — has against written a letter to Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, pleading him to issue orders to unfreeze his bank accounts.
During the suo moto hearing of Naqeebullah Mehsood’s murder case on Wednesday, Justice Nisar sought to verify the letter he has received from the fugitive police officer seeking to unfreeze his bank accounts. Mehsood was killed in Karachi during a fake police encounter staged by Anwar and his men. After the JIT was formed to probe the extrajudicial killing, Anwar and other 11 policemen have gone into hiding and despite repeated summons, the fugitive police officer has failed to appear in the court.
The chief justice was himself not sure whether the letter was genuine or fake and it had been made part of the record.
In an earlier letter directly sent to the chief justice, Anwar had claimed that he was innocent and he had demanded a fair trial by constituting a new JIT. The court through a show-cause notice had asked him to appear before the court, however, he never showed up.
Intelligence agencies and the Sindh police have failed to locate the hiding fugitive which has put a big question mark on their performance and some critics even claim that the absconding police officer has either been sheltered by a top politician or some intelligence agencies.
On Wednesday, the court was informed by DAG Sohail Mehmood that no progress had been made in arresting Rao Anwar and other absconding policemen in the murder case as they have switched off their cell phones.
He said that the ISI and the MI were providing technical assistance to the civilian law enforcement agencies. Sindh IG AD Khawaja when asked by the chief justice about the assistance of the intelligence agencies, he replied in the affirmative. The IG also said that an initial FIR filed by the police declaring Naqeebullah and his three colleagues as militants has been dismissed. Khawaja also said that Anwar was not in the Sindh province and he has moved to an anonymous location.
Faisal Siddiqui, representing Naqeebullah’s father, said that serious questions were being raised on the powers of the state 14 suspects in the cold-blooded murder were yet to be arrested. The chief justice agreed with him and said the those were valid questions.
The chief justice also asked if Anwar has been given political shelter, which also needed to be looked into.
The case will now be taken up Friday.
