- And the cop with nine lives
The Rao Anwar episode underlines the pathosis that has overtaken the police force in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh and Punjab. Ruling parties appoint blue-eyed boys to key posts to get their illegal orders implemented that include staged encounters. The officers involved not only willingly carry out the orders of their masters but also indulge in criminal activities for personal benefit on the sidelines.
This is best illustrated by the rise and rise of Rao Anwar. Anwar acted zealously against the MQM terrorists during the 1992 operation in urban Sindh. He left the province after Musharraf took over and was thus one of the few survivors after MQM eliminated several police officers involved in the operation. Rao was brought back to the province after the departure of Musharraf, promoted and appointed SSP. Soon after the initiation of the Karachi operation in 2014 Anwar was suspended by the SC but was reinstated without any departmental enquiry having cleared him. He soon got the nickname of ‘encounter expert’ as he took out MQM suspects as well as terrorists on the establishment’s radar.
Rao was suspended once again in April 2015 for making dubious claims at a press conference but reinstated after two weeks by his patrons.
In Januray Rao Anwar claimed that Naqeebullah Mehsud was one of the four TTP activists killed in an encounter with police. A high level police investigation team found that Mehsud was never involved in terrorism, the encounter was fake and a case of premeditated murder was registered against Rao. Anwar subsequently made a futile attempt to fly out of the country, failing which he went underground and switched off his phones
Anwar was promised personal safety and a fair trial in case he appeared before the SC but he failed to turn up. The enquiry by the SC had led it to the facilitators who had tried to send him abroad. On Wednesday Anwar suddenly handed himself over to the SC asking for a JIT comprising ISI, MI and IB. The court instead appointed a police enquiry team to probe the cop. It remains to be seen if Rao Anwar gets the comeuppance that he richly deserves or is again rescued by his patrons.