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Protestors demand exemplary punishment for SSP Rao Anwar, whom they say is responsible for all ‘fake encounters’ in Karachi
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Pashtun leaders term the incident as part of well-planned ‘Pashtun genocide’ carried out in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The cold-blooded murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud by the Karachi police has sent shock waves across the country, forcing tens of thousands of protesters to come out on the streets and condemn the “fake police encounters” and demand an immediate judicial inquiry into his tragic death.
In the wake of Naqeebullah Mehsud’s killing in an alleged “staged police encounter” in Karachi last week, protests erupted in almost all the big cities of the country with protestors condemning the killing and demanding judicial inquiry against Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar.
“We will block all the main cities of the country if a thorough probe is not conducted into the matter and the main culprits are not brought to justice,” Awami National Party (ANP) leader Afrasiab Khattak told hundreds of protesters in Islamabad on Thursday.
Earlier, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal had directed deputy inspector general (DIG) South to conduct an “unbiased” inquiry into the killing of Naqeebullah and submit a report in this connection at the earliest.
It merits mention here that Naqeebullah, who hailed from South Waziristan, was killed in an alleged police encounter which was headed by SSP Rao Anwar in Usman Khaskheli Goth in Karachi last week.
On Thursday, protests were held in Islamabad, Karachi, Multan, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar and Tank and parts of South Waziristan in which protesters chanted slogans against the Sindh police and SSP Rao Anwar.
The protesters, carrying placards inscribed with slogans against the Karachi police and administration, demanded to stop extrajudicial killings and Pashtun genocide, and to ensure justice for Naqeeb by suspending/detaining Rao Anwar.
Representatives from almost all political parties, including member of National Assembly (MNA) Jamaluddin of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) from South Waziristan, Bushra Gohar and Afrasiab Khattak of Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Ajmal Wazir, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Shahabuddin Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Shaharyar Afridi and other civil society activists participated in the protest demonstration in the federal capital.
Speaking about the incident, Jamaluddin said that he vehemently rejected the committee formed by the Sindh government to probe the killing of Naqeebullah as bogus, while demanding a high-powered judicial committee to identify the real killer.
“Rao Anwar should be suspended before any inquiry is initiated into the matter and he should be made an example so that no one would dare kill innocent citizens under the guise of fake encounters,” he remarked.
Khattak said that like other Pashtuns living in different areas of Pakistan, Naqeebullah had also been killed under a well-planned strategy and people should now rise to stop this state brutality.
Ajmal Wazir of PML-Q said that the tragic killing of Naqeebullah was a litmus test for the judiciary. He demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter and to punish the criminal officers in the police force in accordance with the law.
“We condemn this ‘police gardi’ due to which innocent Pashtuns are being killed in Karachi after being falsely labelled as militants by the security agencies, police and their sympathisers. Rao Anwar is known for staging fake police encounters and Asif Ali Zardari is backing him,” he added.
He asked the authorities concerned to tell the public how Naqeebullah became such a high-profile militant leader at such a young age, keeping in view that he himself fled South Waziristan to protect his family from terrorism.
“Late Naqeebullah was trying his hand at acting in films and wanted to send his children to the army to become officers. Unfortunately, Naqeebullah’s dreams have been shattered with his untimely killing and Rao Anwar is responsible for destroying the future of his children,” Wazir noted.
MNA Shahbuddin Khan said that the killing of Naqeebullah was not the first case of its kind, since Pashtuns were also being killed in fake encounters in other parts of the country as well. “We would work out a joint strategy to stop the genocide of our children, otherwise our genocide would go unnoticed for a long time,” Khan added. He said the tribal people had migrated from their hometowns and left all their belongings behind for the sake of the country, unfortunately, they were being targeted in other cities of the country for crimes that they did not commit.
Earlier, police had released a letter that claimed that the deceased was affiliated with the proscribed militant organisation Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). However, a number of tribesmen and Naqeebullah’s relatives said that the deceased had taken refuge in Karachi after fleeing South Waziristan back in 2008 following a military operation against militants in his hometown.
The killing of Naqeebullah sent shock waves across the tribal belt and the Pashtun community which triggered nationwide protests where demonstrators demanded the immediate suspension of SSP Rao Anwar, whom they branded a “master of staging fake police encounters to get promotions and rewards.”
Sheharyar Afridi of PTI stressed that all people, irrespective of their political affiliations, should unite to stop this dirty game that revolved around Pashtun genocide in the country. He said the matter regarding the tragic killing of Naqeebullah would be raised at every forum, including the Senate and the National Assembly (NA), to expose the puppeteers who used Rao Anwar to carry out fake police encounters in the port city.
Meanwhile, Sindh Inspector General of Police AD Khawaja, while taking note of the protests, ordered the formation of a three-member committee to probe the murder of Naqeebullah.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari directed the Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal to conduct an inquiry into the killing.
Later, the home minister while taking in a programme aired on a private news channel, said, “The committee will submit its report within three days.”
The funeral prayers of the deceased were offered in his native town Tank on Thursday evening which was attended by a large number of people from the Mehsud and Burki tribes.
