Police launch social media campaign to arrest Rao Anwar, other suspects

The Sindh police have started an advertising campaign and will make use of social media to arrest 16 police officials, including Rao Anwar, allegedly involved in the extrajudicial murder of Naqeeb Mehsud.

A social media cell is being set up under Malir’s Senior Superintendent of Police Adeel Chandio, through which pictures, videos and official profiles of the wanted policemen would be made public.

“Their pictures will help us nab them as they are not recognised by the people,” a police official said while talking to this correspondent. According to the police, it will be difficult for the accused to hide after the start of the campaign.

Mehsud, a 27-year-old native of Waziristan, was among three men who were accused of being terrorists and killed by then Malir SSP Rao Anwar in a fake encounter on January 13.

Anwar and his encounter team have since gone into hiding. However, some members of the team have been arrested by the police.

Moreover, the federal interior ministry and the home ministries of all the four provinces of the country, as well as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, were issued with an alert for the arrest of these suspects, sources said on Thursday.

Additional Inspector General of Police Dr Aftab Pathan sent a list containing the names of the 16 police officials to government institutions and the provincial secretaries, the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), the Pakistan Rangers and the Frontier Corps. The FIA was also requested to put the names of the suspects on the Exit Control List.

The Supreme Court had also issued contempt of court notice to Anwar after he failed to appear before the court, and had directed the State Bank of Pakistan to freez all his accounts. The apex court had revoked his protective bail which he had been granted earlier, and ordered the ISI, the MI and the IB to assist in apprehending him and to submit a report in this regard in 15 days.

On January 31, the PPP-backed Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had claimed that his provincial government was serious about arresting Anwar for further investigations into the murder case.

He had expressed surprise that people were casting doubts about the sincerity of the provincial government in making efforts for arresting the suspended policeman. To support his statement, he said it was PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who had taken notice of Mehsud’s murder, adding that it was on the party chief’s order that an inquiry committee was constituted. He had assured the media that his government was in close contact with all the relevant agencies and that Anwar would be arrested soon.