Naqeebullah’s friends share harrowing details of ‘police brutality’
Ali and Qasim were picked up alongside Naqeebullah on January 3, they claim
January 26, 2018
KARACHI: Two friends of Naqeebullah Mehsud, who was shot dead in an alleged extrajudicial killing, have come forward and detailed the harrowing story of being detained by men in plain clothes.
Naqeebullah, a 27-year-old native of Waziristan, was among four suspected terrorists killed in an ‘exchange of fire’ with a police team led by Malir SSP Rao Anwar on January 13 in Shah Latif Town, Karachi.
Ali and Qasim, while speaking to Geo News, shared that they became friends with Naqeebullah via social media website, Facebook.
On January 3, the friends were out together when they were ‘picked up’ by men in plain clothes in evening, shared Ali. “We were taken to Sachhal police station first. We waited for 50 minutes, then a cloth was tied to our eyes and we were taken to an undisclosed location.”
Ali remarked: “We could hear that they took Naqeeb first and he was being tortured. We could hear his screams. After Naqeeb, the men came towards us and started to beat us up.”
After a while, the men forcefully put naswar {a tobacco derivative that is chewed to get high] down my throat. “I couldn’t stop vomiting after that,” said Ali. “The men also questioned us regarding Naqeeb.”
Qasim shared that the men also checked Naqeebullah’s messages on their mobile phones.
“After some time we were let go but Naqeeb had been separated from us. The police threatened to not discuss the incident with anyone else,” Qasim added.
Earlier in the day, the inquiry committee probing the Naqeebullah extrajudicial killing case submitted its report to the Supreme Court, which will hear the suo motu case at its Karachi Registry tomorrow.
In the 15-page report, the inquiry committee headed Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD)Additional IG Sanaullah Abbasi, says that Naqeebullah was picked up from Sohrab Goth on January 3 along with two others.
The two people picked up with him were let go after giving bribes, the report states, adding that their statements have been recorded and made part of the investigation.
