SHC tells law officer, police chief to comment on plea for inquiry of Rao Anwar’s encounters

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the province’s law officer and police chief among others to submit their respective comments on a petition seeking the constitution of an inquiry board to authenticate Rao Anwar’s encounters.

Petitioner Muzammil Mumtaz Advocate claimed in his petition that between 1992 and January 15, 2018, the now-suspended District Malir SSP had killed more than 250 people in fake encounters and also looted money from the victims’ families.

He said Anwar had remained posted in Malir for the past decade and no action was taken with regard to the tenure of his posting in the district. He added that it was astounding that even though Anwar had been suspended in the past on allegations of carrying out fake encounters and disciplinary proceedings had been conducted against him, he was again posted as the Malir SSP after a short time, with no police officer appointed to replace him in the meantime.

The petitioner claimed that while posted as the District Malir SSP, Anwar had exceeded his powers and violated Article 4 of the constitution – Right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law, etc. – and no action had been taken against him for his role in killing people in fake encounters.

He requested that the court direct the provincial government to constitute an inquiry board with regard to the alleged extrajudicial killings of more than 250 persons in encounters conducted by Anwar and to take action against him and his companion police officials.

The additional advocate general sought time to file comments on the petition and questioned its maintainability. The court directed the Sindh law officer, the provincial police chief and others to file their respective comments on the petition and asked the petitioner to satisfy the court on the maintainability of his petition.

Anwar is wanted by the police for the murder of Naseemullah, alias Naqeeb Mehsud, in a fake encounter that was conducted in Shah Latif Town on January 13. On January 23 police had registered a murder case against Anwar and his team for killing Mehsud along with three other men. The police officials have maintained that all the four men were terrorists.

Mehsud’s father Muhammad Khan said in his police complaint that his son was picked up by eight to nine plain-clothes men of Anwar’s team with two others, namely Hazrat Ali and Muhammad Qasim, on January 3, but Ali and Qasim were released three days later.

Khan said Anwar kept his son in captivity and also switched off his mobile phone, adding that his relatives phoned him on January 17 and told him that his son was killed along with three others on January 13.