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Rao Anwar Ahmed Khan ( ur, ) is a retired Pakistani police officer who served as a
Senior Superintendent of Police Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...
(SSP) in the
Malir District Malir District ( sd, ) is an administrative district of Karachi Division in Sindh, Pakistan. Map of Karachi Division History Before the independence of Pakistan, there were small villages of Sindhi and Kalmati Baloch in the Gadap ...
of
Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...
. He is known as the " encounter specialist" of the
Sindh Police , nativenamea = , nativenamer = , commonname = , abbreviation = SP , fictional = , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = Sindh Police Logo.png , logocaption = , badg ...
because of his
extrajudicial killing An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whethe ...
s in alleged encounters, carrying out at least 444 killings between 2011 and 2018. After the
killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud Naseemullah (Urdu/ ps, ), better known as Naqeebullah Mehsud (), was killed on 13 January 2018 in Karachi, Pakistan, during a fake encounter staged by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Karachi's Malir District, Rao Anwar. On 3 Janu ...
, Anwar was suspended from his post on 20 January 2018. On 10 December 2019, Anwar was blacklisted by the
United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
in the
Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...
under the
Global Magnitsky Act The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in D ...
for his atrocities during his tenure, including the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud. A year later, the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
also slapped him with sanctions, which included an asset freeze and travel ban to the UK. On 1 October 2021, Pakistan's
National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...
(NAB) launched an investigation against Anwar for accumulating assets worth millions of rupees beyond his known source of income, and approved the seizure of his nine bank accounts.


Career

After working as a clerk under SP Harbour for a year, Anwar became an assistant sub-inspector of police (ASI) in 1982. From 1992 to 1999, Anwar played a main role in the
operations Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi, in which many MQM members were either arrested or killed. When MQM came into power in 2002 during the
Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...
government, Anwar disappeared from Karachi. When the
Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
came into power in 2008, Anwar returned to Karachi. He was promoted from inspector to deputy superintendent of police (DSP)
Kiamari Keamari ( sd, ڪياماڙي, ur, کیماڑی ) is a neighbourhood in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Keamari was originally an independent settlement that was built on a sandy ridge on the eastern side of Karachi Harbour. History Keamari was a lo ...
and then to
superintendent of police Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territorie ...
(SP) Gadap within a short space of time in 2008. He was considered close to the former President of Pakistan
Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakist ...
. Anwar became senior superintendent of police (SSP) Malir in 2011. In 2012, he was demoted to the sub-inspector rank by a
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
order, but Asif Ali Zardari reinstated him as SSP Malir using his executive powers. In 2013, Anwar was temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court following the deadly Abbas Town bombing. In 2015, he was briefly suspended for "misusing authority" because of his controversial press conference, in which he alleged that MQM sent its workers to
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
to get them trained by the Indian intelligence agency RAW for spreading terror in Pakistan. The MQM activist Tahir Lamba, who had been arrested by Anwar before the press conference and accused of being a RAW agent, was released by the court later due to lack of evidence. In September 2016, Anwar was suspended for raiding the house of the MQM leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan and detaining him without the permission of the
Sindh Assembly The Provincial Assembly of Sindh ( ur, ) is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Sindh, and is located in Karachi, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution ...
speaker. Anwar challenged the suspension order in court and was reinstated a few weeks later. On 13 January 2018, Anwar led a police operation that led to
Naqeebullah Mehsud Naseemullah (Urdu/ ps, ), better known as Naqeebullah Mehsud (), was killed on 13 January 2018 in Karachi, Pakistan, during a fake encounter staged by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Karachi's Malir District, Rao Anwar. On 3 Januar ...
and three others being shot dead in Karachi's
Shah Latif Town Shah Latif Town is one of the neighbourhoods of Bin Qasim Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.Bin Qasim
. Anwar said they were members of the
Pakistani Taliban The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...
. On 19 January, Anwar appeared before a departmental inquiry committee to give a statement. He claimed one member of the committee was biased and forced police personnel to record false statements about him. On 20 January, the committee declared that Mehsud was innocent and had been wrongfully killed and Anwar was dismissed from the police. On 22 January, Anwar refused to appear before the committee for a second time, calling the inquiry ‘one-sided’. He claimed he was neither responsible for the investigation nor the capture of Mehsud. Anwar tried to flee Pakistan via
Benazir Bhutto International Airport Benazir Bhutto International Airport ( ur, , ) is a defunct airport which formerly served the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area. It was the second-largest airport by air traffic in Pakistan, until 3 May 2018 when it was replaced by the ...
in
Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capita ...
on 23 January. His name was added to the Exit Control List and a
First Information Report __NOTOC__ A first information report (FIR) is a document prepared by police organisations in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan when they receive information about the commi ...
was lodged against him. Anwar demanded the formation of a ‘Joint Investigative Team’ from intelligence agencies and called the case against him ‘baseless’. On 27 January, the Supreme Court issued a three-day deadline to the Sindh Police Department for Anwar's arrest, saying cell-phone positioning evidence confirmed Anwar's presence at the site of the encounter killing. On 31 January, Anwar refuted reports that he had left the country after the police had failed to arrest him. On 3 March, his accounts at the
State Bank of Pakistan The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) ( ur, ) is the Central Bank of Pakistan. Its Constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until 1 January 1974, when the bank was Nationalized and ...
were frozen on the orders of the Supreme Court, which made the judgement in a 16 February hearing for contempt of court. On 17 February 2018, former president
Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakist ...
voiced support for Anwar, calling him a ‘brave child’ for surviving the fight against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. However, Zardari later said he ‘misspoke’, and took his words back. On 21 March 2018, Anwar was arrested after appearing before the Supreme Court. Anwar took retirement on 1 January 2019 while facing trial under suspension. Apart from his controversial police encounters, Anwar has also been notorious for being involved in land grabbing and
gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classif ...
and
sand mining Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in concr ...
in the Malir and Gadap areas of Karachi. On January 24, 2023, he was acquitted along with 17 others in naqeebullah Mehsud murder case due to lack of evidence. However, lawyer Jibran Nasir refused the verdict and asked Naqeeb's family to appeal judgement in high court.


Personal life

According to the NADRA officials, Anwar had made 74 trips to Dubai since his appointment as SSP Malir until his removal from the job, that is about one trip per a month on average.


See also

*
Killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud Naseemullah (Urdu/ ps, ), better known as Naqeebullah Mehsud (), was killed on 13 January 2018 in Karachi, Pakistan, during a fake encounter staged by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Karachi's Malir District, Rao Anwar. On 3 Janu ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anwar, Rao People from Karachi People sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act Pakistani police officers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List