KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday sought comments from suspended Malir senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao Anwar, Sindh inspector general of police (IGP), home secretary and others on a petition seeking impartial enquiry into police encounters led by Anwar in which reportedly 250 people were shot dead.
A division bench was hearing a petition filed by Advocate Muzammil, praying to the court to constitute a high-profile committee to probe into the killings of 250 persons in ‘fake encounters’ led by Rao Anwar.
The petitioner submitted that Rao Anwar had been serving as SSP Malir for quite a long time and during his tenure, he led hundreds of ‘staged encounters’ but none of them was scrutinised impartially. The suspended police officer had misused his powers, he maintained.
Issuing notices to Rao Anwar, IGP, home secretary and the provincial law officer, the court directed all of them to submit their respective replies by February 20.
The suspended Malir SSP came in hot waters after the alleged extra-judicial killing of 27-year old Naqeebullah Mehsood, a young man found very active in sharing his pictures on social media.
It may be noted that it’s not the first time that Anwar’s name came into lights for extra-judicial murders as similar sort of cases surfaced in the past as well.
Besides that, he is also accused of possessing huge assets through illegal and corrupt practices.
Former SSP Niaz Khoso had petitioned the high court in April 2017 and submitted that Anwar was involved in money laundering of Rs85 billion from Pakistan to other countries after earning the same via land grabbing and illegal activities as SSP Malir over the past nine years.
The SHC was requested to task the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to conduct an enquiry against Anwar.
