KARACHI: Although Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah denied giving permission to SP Rao Anwar to go abroad, the Sindh government has so far failed to suspend the influential officer despite clear recommendations of the Sindh inspector general of police in this regard.

Acting on the recommendations of a police inquiry committee tasked with investigating the Jan 13 alleged encounter on the outskirts of Karachi in which four suspects, including South Waziristan youngster Naqeeb Ullah Mehsud, were killed, IGP A.D. Khowaja on Jan 20 wrote to the Sindh chief secretary asking him to suspend SP Rao Anwar, who is a grade-18 officer.

On the same day, the police chief also wrote to the interior ministry seeking inclusion of Rao’s name in the exit control list. The federal government did not act on his recommendation, but put the SP’s name on the ECL on the directives of the apex court after he made a botched attempt to leave the country from Islamabad airport.

Murad says no permission granted to the under-fire cop to leave country

As it was reported that SP Rao had presented a no-objection certificate issued by the Sindh government at Islamabad airport’s immigration counter before boarding a Dubai-bound flight, CM Murad Ali Shah after inaugurating a flyover in Jamshoro told the media that the Sindh government did not accord any such permission to the former SSP-Malir to leave the country.

Senior police officials remained tight-lipped when asked whether the Sindh government suspended SP Rao. “I don’t know,” was the response of one of the three-member inquiry committee.

On Tuesday, the Sachal police registered a case on a complaint of Naqeeb’s father, Mohammed Khan, against Rao Anwar and others under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 365 (kidnapping), 344 (fake encounter) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

On Wednesday, IGP Khowaja chaired a high-level meeting at the Central Police Office to review the progress made so far in the case.

A brief statement issued after the meeting said that “further orders” were given in the meeting, which was attended by Counter Terrorism Department chief Sanaullah Abbasi, Additional IG Aftab Pathan, DIG-East Sultan Khowaja, DIG-South Azad Khan, Malir SSP Adeel Chandio, SP-Investigation Abid Qaimkhani and others.

TV channels, however, quoted IGP Khowaja as telling the participants in the meeting to take all-out steps for the arrest of Rao Anwar and his team.

Reportedly, it was also decided in the meeting that a team would be sent to Islamabad for Rao Anwar’s arrest.

Meanwhile, DIG Khowaja told the media that all legal requirements had been taken for the arrest of Rao Anwar and the other policemen.

He claimed that different teams had been formed and raid conducted for the arrest of the policemen involved in the Naqeeb murder case.

The murder of South Waziristan youngster triggered widespread anger in the media as the victim appeared to be more interested in modelling than militancy, which prompted the authorities to set up a committee to ascertain authenticity of the encounter and collect information about the victims.

The inquiry team declared it a staged encounter and added that the deceased had no militancy tendency.

Relatives of another deceased, identified as Nazar Jan Mehsud, also arrived here and attended the ongoing jirga of Mehsud tribe and other members of the Pakhtun community at Sohrab Goth on Wednesday.

The victim’s family told the media that Nazar was taken away by plain-clothes men from Sohrab Goth on May 18. They claimed that the deceased worked as a labourer at a famous housing scheme off the Superhighway and he had nothing to do with militancy.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2018