Tag: Rao Anwar

  • Rao Anwar targets Asif Zardari in new interview

    Rao Anwar targets Asif Zardari in new interview

    The controversial former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir, Rao Anwar, has targeted former President and co-chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari in an interview, offering details of alleged corruption within the Sindh government.

    Talking to SAMAA, Rao Anwar claimed that Asif Ali Zardari was involved in corruption of RS 700 billion, stating, “Asif Ali Zardari is the king of the system mafia. In the last five years, 700 billion rupees have been laundered outside Pakistan.”

    He also disclosed that after 2013, Sindh police had also been involved in seizing individuals’ land. He criticised the Sindh government, saying that instead of controlling crimes in Karachi and interior Sindh, they were busy doing other activities.

    Rao, one of the most contentious police officers in Karachi, retired in 2019, mired in allegations of extra judicial murder among other serious charges. He had been charged with carrying out fake encounters and involvement in corrupt practices, including orchestrating the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, an aspiring model from Waziristan. Later, an anti-terrorism court acquitted the former SSP.

  • Rao Anwar and all accused acquitted of Naqeebullah’s murder

    Former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar and 17 other police officers have been acquitted in the high-profile Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case.

    Naqeebullah, a young aspiring fashion model from Waziristan, was killed in Karachi on January 13, 2018, during an encounter allegedly staged by Anwar. Rao and his colleagues were charged with the killing of Naqeeb and three others after falsely accusing them of being militants linked to ISIS and Taliban.

    On Monday, the court said that the prosecution had failed to submit sufficient evidence and failed to prove that the victims were kidnapped and murdered in a fake encounter by Rao Anwar and his 14 subordinate officials. However, a detailed verdict in the case is awaited.

    Speaking to Geo TV after the acquittal, Anwar said that “fake allegations” against him had been proven wrong.

    He claimed that the person killed was a “wanted terrorist” whose name was Naseemullah and not Naqeebullah. “He was a wanted militant about which advertisements were also given in the media,” he said.

    When asked whether he would like to rejoin the police force, the former police official said one year of his service is left and he “would like to serve Karachi”.

    Following the verdict, lawyer Jibran Nasir who is representing the case of Naqeebullah said the victim’s family would appeal this judgement before the high court.

  • Naqeeb’s brother says Sindh govt trying to save ‘encounter specialist’ Rao Anwar

    Naqeeb’s brother says Sindh govt trying to save ‘encounter specialist’ Rao Anwar

    The Sindh government is helping former Malir SSP Rao Anwar to get a clean chit in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case by pressurising the witnesses, alleged Naqeeb’s brother Alam Sher.

    In a press conference alongside his attorney Jibran Nasir, the younger brother alleged that the witnesses were turning hostile at the behest of the Sindh government and the prosecution.

    “The case was registered on behalf of the state, not from the family and if the charges were not proved in the court, the state will lose,” said the attorney.

    Jibran also criticised the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for ignoring an application filed by the family of Naqib to look into the assets of Rao Anwar. “The US and UK have frozen the assets of Anwar besides imposing travel restrictions on him due to human rights violations, but still NAB has refused to investigate the former police officer,” he added.

    Instead of being detained in a jail, he was confined for a short time in the comfort of his own home and given the protocol of a federal minister, Jibran said. If top politicians, like Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Asif Ali Zardari, could be sent to jail then why can’t they send Anwar to prison, he asked.

    On January 13, 2019, Mehsud and three others were killed in a fake encounter carried out by a police team headed by then Malir SSP Anwar in Karachi. On January 17, his body was handed over to his relatives at the Chhipa Welfare Association morgue in the metropolis.

    The fake encounter had sparked countrywide protests against extrajudicial killings in the country and to bring Anwar to justice.

    Subsequently, the former SSP and around 20 of his subordinates were charged with killing Naqeebullah. In March 2019, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) had framed charges on Anwar and others for the alleged murder of Naqeebullah and implicating him in bogus cases.

    In Dec 2019, On International Human Rights’ Day, Anwar was also blacklisted by the United States for engaging in “serious human rights abuse” by carrying out alleged fake police ‘encounters’ in which scores of individuals including Naqeebullah Mehsud were killed.

  • Rao Anwar blacklisted by the US

    Rao Anwar blacklisted by the US

    On International Human Rights’ Day, former Malir SSP Rao Anwar was blacklisted by the United States. Rao Anwar was blacklisted on Tuesday for engaging in “serious human rights abuse” by carrying out alleged fake police ‘encounters’ in which scores of individuals including Naqeebullah Mehsud were killed.

    Rao Anwar is among 18 individuals from six countries that the Trump administration has imposed economic sanctions on for suspected human rights violations.

    “During his tenure as the Senior Superintendent of Police in District Malir, Pakistan, Rao Anwar Khan (Anwar) was reportedly responsible for staging numerous fake police encounters in which individuals were killed by police, and was involved in over 190 police encounters that resulted in the deaths of over 400 people, including the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsood,” the US Treasury said in a statement.

    It said Rao Anwar “helped to lead a network of police and criminal thugs that were allegedly responsible for extortion, land grabbing, narcotics, and murder”.

    According to the press release, Rao Anwar has been designated “for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse.”

  • Justice denied? Slain Naqeebullah Mehsud’s father passes away awaiting justice

    Slain South Waziristan youth Naqeebullah Mehsud’s father, Muhammad Khan, on Monday passed away at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalpindi after a long battle with cancer; still awaiting justice for his son.

    Khan was admitted to CMH Rawalpindi seven months ago and the body of the deceased will be sent to Waziristan later in the day.

    Khan had gathered the support of not only his son’s peers, but also political leaders, government officials and rights’ activists ever since the extra-judicial killing of his son by “encounter specialist” of the Sindh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar.

    On January 13 last year, Mehsud was killed in a fake encounter carried out by a police team headed by then Malir SSP Anwar in Karachi. On January 17, his body was handed over to his relatives at the Chhipa Welfare Association morgue in the metropolis.

    The fake encounter had sparked countrywide protests against extrajudicial killings in the country and to bring Anwar to justice.