KARACHI  -  The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday barred anti-terrorism court (ATC) No-II from hearing two cases pertaining killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a Waziristan native in a fake encounter allegedly staged by suspended SSP Malir Rao Anwar.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh allowed a plea filed by Muhammad Khan, father of Naqeebullah Mehsud pleaded to transfer the case relating to his son’s murder to another court.

Suspended SSP Malir Rao Anwar, then DSP Qamar Ahmed Shaikh, and their 10 detained and 14 absconding subordinates have been booked for allegedly killing four men, including Mehsud, in a fake shoot-out in Shah Latif Town on January 13 this year and, separately for foisting fake recoveries of illicit arms and explosives on the victims. The applicant had shown no confidence in the ATC-II judge and had sought transfer of Mehsud’s murder and other connected cases to any other court of law.

In his petitioner, Mohammad Khan requested the court to transfer both the cases from ATC-II by alleging that the trail court had allegedly providing undue benefit to the accused by not passing orders on his objections and that he had concerns that the presiding officer of the ATC would not be able to act fairly and impartially while deciding the case.

Earlier, in his concluding arguments, Khan’s counsel Advocate Faisal Siddiqui had submitted that the main suspect, Anwar had been provided VVIP and discriminatory treatment and for not a single day was he confined to prison; rather, his house was declared a sub-jail. The petitioner’s counsel had also contended the trial court had approved the suspects’ bails without hearing the complainants and without taking the evidence into consideration.

During Monday’s hearing, the chief justice asked Anwar’s lawyer whether it was appropriate for the ATC-II judge to amend the order regarding the former SSP’s bail plea twice in one day.

On the other side, a bench headed by Justice Iqbal Kulhoro heard another petition filed by Muhammad Khan seeking revocation of the bail granted to Anwar and ex-DSP Qamar in both cases.

In his prior arguments, Advocate Siddiqui had submitted that that the trial court had approved the suspects’ bails without hearing the complainants and without taking the evidence into consideration. He said that due to discriminatory and illegal favours being accorded to Anwar, the accused had been threatening the prosecution witnesses and one of the prosecution witnesses, Shahzada Jehangir, had retracted from his statement.

The bench after hearing initial arguments has issued notice to the prosecution on Muhammad Khan’s plea seeking revocation of the bail granted to Anwar and ex-DSP Qamar in both cases, till November 26.