UK places travel ban on ex-Pakistan police officer Rao Anwar, freezes his assets
Dec 11, 2020
Islamabad [Pakistan], December 12 : The United Kingdom has placed a travel ban on former Pakistan police officer Rao Anwar and frozen his assets under Sanctions Act.
According to an official statement issued by the UK government, "Rao Anwar Khan is the former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Malir District, Pakistan. In his role as SSP Malir, Khan was reportedly responsible for numerous staged police encounters in which individuals were killed by police, and was directly involved in over 190 police encounters that resulted in the deaths of over 400 people, including the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud in 2018. Khan is therefore responsible for or complicit in, the serious violations of the right to life."
Anwar was suspended after he was accused of killing 27-year-old Mehsud and four others at a farmhouse in Karachi's Shah Latif Town on January 13, 2018, SAMAA TV reported.
Anwar had reportedly accused Naqeebullah Mehsud of having links with terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Islamic State.
An anti-terrorism court had, however, called these accusations "baseless" and declared Naqeebullah, Sabir, Nazir Khan and Ishaq innocent, and had indicted Anwar for extrajudicial killings, SAMAA TV said.
Following Anwar's bail, the US placed sanctions on him in December 2019 for his involvement in "serious human rights abuse".
"Anwar helped lead a network of police and criminal thugs that were allegedly responsible for extortion, land grabbing, narcotics, and murder," the Department of Treasury said.
