SC cancels Rao Anwar’s bail for being absent

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday issued show-cause notice to former SSP (Malir) Rao Anwar for defying its order of his appearance before it. A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard the suo moto case on the murder of 27-year-old Naqeebullah Mehsud, who was gunned down, allegedly by Rao Anwar and his team in a fake encounter.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar expressed annoyance over former SSP Rao Anwar’s failure to appear before the court. He observed that the court had given him a chance to appear but he wasted it and now he will be caught, directing the police to present him.

After his failure to appear before the bench, the court cancelled its earlier order granting protective bail to Rao Anwar and directed the intelligence agencies as well as Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to assist the Sindh police in tracing out the former SSP Malir.

The court also directed State Bank of Pakistan to freeze bank accounts of Rao Anwar. It directed inspectors general of police (IGP) of all the provinces to provide security to the witnesses and adjourned further hearing until March 3.

On last hearing when the Sindh Police expressed before the court their failure to arrest Rao Anwaar, the CJ told IGP Sindh AD Khwaja that Rao Anwar wrote a letter to him, which he showed to the IGP, for verification of his signature. The IGP Sindh said the signature seemed authentic.

In the letter, Rao claimed innocence and said that he was not present at the site of encounter. The CJ said the former SSP had further claimed that he always abided by the law and will ensure his presence before an independent JIT and will accept its decision.

The chief justice observed that the accused should be given an opportunity to defend himself adding Rao Anwar had requested for formation of an independent JIT comprising officials from Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI).

The chief justice had also directed that a brigadier-rank official of the ISI and an official of the IB will be part of the team that will be headed by an 'honest' police officer, which would be appointed by the court.