Who is Rao Anwar?

My first meeting with Rao Anwar was at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station, where he was posted as an SHO, in the 1980s. It was perhaps his first posting since the day he was recruited as an ASI in the Sindh Police. It took him years to become one of the most controversial police officers with the reputation of an 'encounter specialist.'

His story is reflective of a 'mindset' which exists in our faulty police and political system.

Within few years of his service, Anwar realised the ways and means to get good postings, promotions and rewards and soon learnt all this by watching his superior's political connections.

In the last three decades, he not only got promotions and choice postings but also rewards in millions of rupees for his stellar 'performance.'

Perhaps, in the process, he got too far and too quick in establishing his political contacts through 'shortcuts,' which made him even more powerful than some DIGs and IGPs.

He believed that he developed an enmity with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the 1990s and in the last few years with al-Qaeda and Taliban. 

He also privately defended the 'fake encounters' he undertook.

What Rao did during all these years, also reflected the collapse of Pakistan's judicial system where target killings and controversial 'encounters' are used as a pretext for battling terrorism.

If you really want to see how 'politicised' police and some other departments in Sindh are, a few high-profile receptions and private gatherings will give an idea as to 'who is who'. Perhaps, the same practice has also been followed in Punjab as the province is also known for 'fake encounters'.

As a junior officer, Anwar was once told by his SSP not to take action against some well-known drug dealers and gamblers who operated huge dens in Nazimabad. The same officer told him that if he wants to get promotions and good postings, he must get close to the ruling elite and quarters which matter.

I would not be surprised if his assets would be in billions of rupees. Moreover, if details could be collected of the reward money he received from 1992 to 1995 alone, it may touch staggering figures.

Anwar is not the only one and it would be wrong to single out one or two police officers. If in the 80s and 90s some police officers had over 4-kanal bungalows in Clifton and Defence with BMWs in their porches, it would not be surprising if Rao also owns similar properties and assets.

Anwar is not the only one who used 'encounters' as means to establish his authority and thus become one of Sindh's most powerful police officers. The late SSP Chaudhry Aslam was another such officer who, in the 90s, used 'encounters' as a means to establish his authority.

Today, Anwar is facing a serious charge of killing young Naqeebullah Mehsud and two others in 'fake encounters.' The victims apparently had no criminal record nor belonged to very rich families.

Despite his assoication with 'encounters', Rao has hardly ever faced trial. Not many people are still optimistic that he will undergo this process. However, he certainly misjudged his last victim and his tribe.

Rao is not an individual. He reflects a mindset of the Sindh Police from where he draws all his strength and reputation as the 'encounter specialist'. The system, which not only justified and defended such 'extra-judicial' killings, also kept silent on unlawful actions of police officers in the past.

His recent arrest or surrender was expected after such a hue and cry and the Supreme Court's specific orders, but the investigation into the 'encounters' and trial would determine whether his surrender was part of some unwritten agreement or understanding. 

An informed source, aware of these developments, revealed that Anwar had been told that he would only be interrogated in the Naqeebullah Mehsud case and the circumstances in which it occurred. 

What was the motive behind his and two others killing? Like many such encounters, Anwar also took credit for this in the beginning, terming it a success of the police and accusing Naqeebullah and the other two of being terrorists. 

When the first JIT headed by CTD DIG Sanaullah Abbasi, was formed, he told the investigators that the deceased were wanted in many criminal cases but a subsequent investigation revealed the encounter was fake.

Sensing his possible arrest, Anwar than disappeared and from his hideout issued a statement expressing lack of confidence in the JIT. Now, the Supreme Court has constituted a fresh JIT headed by senior police officer Aftab Pathan.

What Anwar did in the last three decades had been done by dozens of police officers when 'fake encounters' become state policy, particularly in 1994 in the time of then-interior minister late Lt Gen Naseerullah Babar. Hundreds of alleged militants of the MQM were killed. The policy was never abandoned and later resurfaced during the anti-Taliban operations and also in the killing of militants of sectarian and ethnic groups.

The only person who differed with this policy was former Sindh IGP Afzal Shigri who had to pay with a transfer from Karachi after he refused to become part of this policy. His version was that if the state turns a 'blind eye' on the killing of terrorists instead of getting them convicted through the legal way, police officers would also start settling their personal scores in such a way. He was not all wrong as many innocent people or political workers were also killed in the name of 'terrorists or criminals.'

In the last three decades, Anwar became the 'blue-eyed' boy of both political and non-political forces. Rao first got close to prominent PPP leader late Munawar Suerwardi, a close associate of PPP chief Benazir Bhutto. This also brought him close to other PPP leaders, leading to him and officers like him such as Waseem Ahmad and others being branded as 'PPP men' within the police force.

These police officers were often been sidelined during anti-PPP governments in Sindh. The year 1990 was a turning point for Anwar as the 'Veena Hayat' incident occurred and PPP accused Jam Sadiq Ali's government, his home minister Irfanullah Marwat and then-CIA DIG Samiullah Marwat. Rao allegedly provided evidence to the PPP leadership about their unlawful and anti-PPP activities.

When then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in his second term, developed differences with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, he sent the head of his inspection team, Lt Gen Shafiqur Rehman, to probe media reports about unlawful activities of Sindh Chief Minister Jam Sadiq Ali, Ghulam Ishaq's son-in-law Irfanullah and Samiullah.

Jam took exception to this move and did not even allow the inspection team to leave their five star hotel. The PPP supported Sharif's move and it was Anwar who, despite resistance from the Sindh government, assisted them by providing them evidence, arranging interviews of victims who had been abducted for ransom. One night, he took them secretly to the CIA centre.

Later, it was Anwar who got Samiullah arrested after which the CIA DIG was terminated. Rao, however, was rewarded by the PPP government.

By the time PPP's second government came to power, Rao was considered in police and political circles as among those officers who were too close to the PPP leadership.

When the police operation was launched in 1994 in Karachi against criminal and militant elements and the army was withdrawn, Rao and about a dozen police officers went out of their way in tracing, arresting and killing MQM 'militants'. Many anti-PPP parties and a cross-section of the media fully defended the extra-judicial killings on the pretext that it was the only way left to curb militancy. But, there were some police officers who believed that it not only made a group of police officers above the law but made them even more powerful than some of their superiors.

Many police officers later killed in mysterious circumstances had alleged that they were going to become a target of MQM militants for their role in the 1994-95 operation. But, in the last few years, even Taliban, al-Qaeda and sectarian outfits have been blamed for killing police officers for their alleged role in taking out their accomplices.

So it would be interesting to watch the Anwar's fate. Anything can happen but one thing is certain — the man knows too much. Perhaps he will not open up to the new JIT, unless he realises there is no one there to defend him. He has little hope from his institution but maybe believes his other 'links' will rescue him.

Mazhar Abbas is a senior journalist working for Jang/Geo Group. He tweets at @MazharAbbasGEO.

Note: The views expressed in the article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Geo News or the Jang Group.