ATC acquits seven remaining accused in Naqeebullah murder case
The ruling means all 25 people nominated in the 2018 police killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud have now been acquitted, the prosecution said.
An Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi has acquitted seven remaining accused in the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove the case against them.
The seven are former police officers Shoaib Shooter and Amanullah Marwat, along with Gada Hussain, Sadaqat Hussain, Riaz Ahmed, Raja Shamim and Mohsin Abbas. Minute Mirror reported one name as Guda Hussain. The prosecution told the court the men had been declared absconders and had surrendered after an earlier ruling in the case.
Defence lawyers argued that no witness had testified that the police encounter in which Naqeebullah Mehsud was killed was staged. Prosecutors said Naqeebullah Mehsud was killed in January 2018 in an alleged police encounter in Karachi's Shah Latif Town.
The court concluded after hearing both sides that the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence against the seven accused.
According to ARY News, former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and 17 other police officers and personnel had already been acquitted in the case. Minute Mirror reported that Rao Anwar and 18 other police personnel had been acquitted earlier. Both outlets reported that the latest decision means all 25 accused named in the case have now been acquitted.
The killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young man from Waziristan, along with three others in January 2018 sparked nationwide protests and a social media campaign demanding an investigation. Police had initially described the incident in Shah Latif Town as an encounter with suspected militants, saying four suspected militants were killed in retaliatory fire. A subsequent inquiry led by Counter-Terrorism Department Additional Inspector General Sanaullah Abbasi concluded that the encounter was staged. A joint investigation team later held Rao Anwar responsible for the alleged extrajudicial killing, ARY News reported. Rao Anwar was suspended and later indicted in March 2019. In January 2023, an anti-terrorism court acquitted Rao Anwar and other accused, ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges.
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