News Desk |
The Supreme Court on Thursday, 10th January rejected former Malir Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Rao Anwar’s petition to have his name removed from the exit control list (ECL), which bars him from flying out of the country.
Anwar who retired from police service on January 1 this year, is accused of being involved in the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, an aspiring model, and shopkeeper from South Waziristan, and others in a fake police encounter in Karachi, but is currently out on bail.
He had petitioned the top court to have his name struck out from the Exit Control List on the plea of performing Umrah and attending the wedding of his daughter abroad.
DSP Qamar Ahmed Shaikh and several other officials were also booked along with Anwar. He was also booked for foisting fake recoveries of illicit arms and explosives on the victims.
At the outset of the case today CJP Mian Saqib Nisar questioned Anwar’s counsel as to how his client was out of jail despite being accused of murder. “Rao Anwar was an absconder,” Justice Nisar noted, referring to the former policeman’s infamous disappearance in the wake of the emergence of allegations against him.
“How did he [Anwar] get acquitted?”
“Rao Anwar wasn’t acquitted; he is out on bail,” the counsel replied. “His family lives abroad. He wants to meet them and also wants to perform Umrah with his family.”
Read more: Encounter Specialist Rao Anwar likely to be released on bail
The chief justice suggested that Anwar’s family be called to Pakistan as he set aside the petition. “Confiscate Rao Anwar’s petition,” the top judge ordered. “He has killed a young boy. Until the trial is over, Rao Anwar will stay in Pakistan.”
The chief justice dismissed Anwar’s justification for seeking ECL exit, saying that the actual purpose of the petition is to “deposit abroad the wealth looted from here”. Furthermore, Justice Nisar said that “this bench knows how Rao Anwar was arrested”. “He was provided all facilities during his arrest,” he added.
Rao Anwar, the Karachi police officer who was suspended and charged for killing four men including Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake police encounter last year, retired from the police department on January 1 after being in uniform for 37 years, GVS earlier reported.
Anwar is accused of being involved in the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud, an aspiring model, and shopkeeper from South Waziristan, and others in a fake police encounter in Karachi, but is currently out on bail.
He initially joined the Sindh Police as a clerk back in 1991. A year later, he was enlisted as the assistant sub-inspector and rose through the ranks over the years. He came to be known as the encounter specialist for his alleged involvement in various controversial police encounters in which suspects were killed by the police.
Last year he was working as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Malir district in Karachi when he was booked for killing four men, including Naqeeb, in a fake encounter in Shah Latif Town on Jan 13, 2018. DSP Qamar Ahmed Shaikh and several other officials were also booked along with Anwar. He was also booked for foisting fake recoveries of illicit arms and explosives on the victims.
Read more: Supreme Court fails to lure Rao Anwar
The Supreme Court ordered Anwar’s arrest following civil society protests across the country. As the demands for his arrest rose, Anwar went into hiding. Naqeeb, it emerged, was a shopkeeper and an aspiring model from South Waziristan who had settled in Karachi.