SSP Rao Anwar held at Benazir Bhutto International Airport while fleeing country
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ISLAMABAD - The Law Enforcement Agencies have intensified their hunt for the missing Police SSP Rao Anwar who is now wanted in the murder of NaqeebullahMehsud.
Reportedly Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials stopped the ex-SSP at Benazir International Airport, Rawalpindi, from boarding an international flight early Tuesday morning, Express News reported.
FIA officials confirmed that Anwar was stopped from travelling because the Non-Objection Certificate (NOC) he possessed was ‘suspicious’.
Authorities at BIA barred him from travelling to Dubai on flight EK-615, stating he cannot travel under current circumstances. Anwar is currently facing a departmental inquiry over the alleged extrajudicial killing of a 27-year-old Naseemullah alias Naqeebullah Mehsud, had gone into hiding along with his entire team.
According to airport sources, Anwar was stopped at the immigration counter at around 2am. When asked to submit a written notification, immigration officials said they are not permitted to do so under order 506.
On Sunday, the Sindh Police decided to arrest former SSP Malir Rao Anwar and his entire police party.
The decision was taken during a high-level meeting of police officials in Karachi headed by Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Additional DIG Sanaullah Abbasi, who is also heading a committee formed to probe into the alleged custodial killing.
Muzamil Mumtaz Meo Rajput, a practicing lawyer, had approached the court seeking formation of a board to inquire into killings of more than 250 suspects in alleged encounters by the former SSP in the city since 1992.
Rajput said he heard from many people that complaints were not lodged with any authority or the SHC against the policeman due to fear.
The petitioner recalled that since 1992 till January 15, 2018 the former SSP had murdered innocent persons in fake police encounters and had also looted many persons, who were murdered.
Defying the Sindh police chief’s summons, SSP Anwar and his entire team comprising at least thirteen members did not appear on Monday morning before the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Allah Dino Khowaja and members of the National Commission for Human Rights at the Central Police Office.
A three-member inquiry committee – headed by Abbasi and comprising DIG Sultan Khawaja and DIG Azad Khan – also recommended that names of Anwar and other policemen involved in the ‘encounter’ be placed on the ECL.
