SHC seeks details of Rao Anwar’s detention in prison

The Sindh High Court on Friday directed a provincial law officer to file comments with regard to declaring the house of former SSP Rao Anwar in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case a sub-jail, including the record of his detention in prison.

The court was hearing a petition against the home department’s notification that declared s sub-jail the house of Anwar, the prime suspect in Mehsud’s extrajudicial killing case, as sub-jail.

The court inquired the provincial law officer under what law the former SSP was detained in his house instead of prison. It directed Anwar’s counsel to ensure his client’s appearance on July 2; otherwise, it would pass an order on the petition.

Mohammad Khan submitted in the petition that Anwar and his subordinate policemen had been booked for murdering his 27-year-old son Naqeebullah Mehsud along with three other men in a fake encounter on January 13 in Shah Latif Town and the trial was pending before an anti-terrorism court.

He remarked that malafide and criminal character of Anwar was obvious from the facts that he defied the orders of the court and as per a police report the former SSP and his subordinate police officers had been accused of having engaged in 444 encounter killings over the last seven years.

He said that there was clear evidence that the Anwar was a thoroughly corrupt police officer, who had acquired assets beyond his known means and had also engaged in money laundering, and a complaint about this had been sent to the National Accountability Bureau.

The petitioner’s counsel, Faisal Siddiqui, submitted that Anwar was arrested on orders of the Supreme Court on March 21 and after the completion of police remand he was sent to prison by the administrative judge of anti- terrorism courts on April 21.

He said that despite the order of the trial court for shifting the accused to prison, the home department issued a notification declaring his house a sub-jail, which he said, was a violation of the trial court orders.

He argued that home department malafidely issued the impugned notification as Anwar was the only under-trial prisoner of an anti-terrorism court in Sindh whose own house had been declared a sub-jail. He added that such favouritism and nepotism in favour of the accused was against the jail rules and criminal procedure.

The counsel submitted that the notification failed to disclose any credible information about serious threats to the life of Anwar and if there was any serious threat why he had not been detained in some high- security detention centre, or why his security had not been increased in jail, like that of other high-profile terrorism prisoners.

He said Anwar’s detention in the comfort of his own home declared a sub-jail was simply a continuation of the VVIP treatment being accorded to the alleged terrorist. The court was requested to declare the notification of the home department illegal. Anwar’s counsel appeared before the court and claimed a copy of the petition.

Mehsud’s father sent a complaint against Anwar to the National Accountability Bureau and submitted that his salary as SSP was Rs113,772 and despite such a salary he had travelled 74 times to Dubai since 2012. He said it was incomprehensible for an officer with a maximum salary of Rs113,772 to be able to afford as many trips.