Defence says no witness ever claimed the encounter was fake
KARACHI — An Anti-Terrorism Court on Saturday acquitted the seven remaining defendants in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case, ruling that the prosecution had not presented enough evidence to convict them. The decision brings the total number of acquittals in the case to 25 — meaning every person accused has now been cleared.
The seven acquitted on Saturday are former SHO Amanullah Marwat, Shoaib Shooter, Guda Hussain, Sadaqat Hussain, Riaz Ahmed, Raja Shamim and Mohsin Abbas. According to the prosecution, all seven had been fugitives from the law and only surrendered after the court delivered its verdict.
Defence counsel told reporters that at no point during the trial did any witness state that the encounter in which Mehsud was killed had been staged.
The prosecution also confirmed to the court that former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and 18 other police officials had already been acquitted during earlier stages of the trial, meaning the case is now fully closed with no convictions.
A killing that shook the nation
Saturday’s ruling comes eight years after the death of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a 27-year-old man from Waziristan, also known by his real name, Naseemullah. He was killed on January 13, 2018, along with three others, on the orders of then-SSP Malir Rao Anwar, in an incident police initially described as a shootout with terrorism suspects.
That version of events was later discredited. A Supreme Court-mandated inquiry committee, led by CTD Additional Inspector General Sanaullah Abbasi, determined that the encounter had in fact been fake — a finding that triggered widespread public anger and protests against Anwar and the officers under his command.
An FIR was subsequently lodged against Anwar and his team after they refused to appear before investigators; most of the accused, including Anwar, went into hiding once the inquiry committee was formed.
In March 2019, an ATC in Karachi formally indicted Anwar and his co-accused, all of whom pleaded not guilty. Nearly four years later, in January 2023, the court acquitted Anwar and the other defendants named at that stage, stating that the prosecution had failed to substantiate the charges against them.
With Saturday’s verdict, the eight-year legal battle over Naqeebullah Mehsud’s death has concluded without a single conviction.