Rao Anwar

Rao Anwar
راؤ انوار
Anwar in 2017
Police career
DepartmentSindh Police
Service years37 (1982–2019)
StatusRetired[1]
RankSenior Superintendent (SSP)

Rao Anwar Ahmed Khan (Urdu: راؤ انوار احمد خان) is a retired Pakistani police officer who served as a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the Malir District of Karachi.[2][3] He is known as the "encounter specialist" of the Sindh Police because of his extrajudicial killings in alleged encounters,[4] carrying out at least 444 killings between 2011 and 2018.[5][6] After the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, Anwar was suspended from his post on 20 January 2018.[7][8]

On 10 December 2019, Anwar was blacklisted by the United States Department of the Treasury in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List under the Global Magnitsky Act for his atrocities during his tenure, including the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud.[9][10] A year later, the United Kingdom also slapped him with sanctions, which included an asset freeze and travel ban to the UK.[11] On 1 October 2021, Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (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.[12]

  1. ^ "SSP Rao Anwar retires from Police department: source". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  2. ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (2019-01-02). "Rao Anwar retires from police". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  3. ^ "Rao Anwar's plea for removal of name from ECL rejected". 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
  4. ^ "Rao Anwar: Super cop, encounter specialist or political pawn?". The Express Tribune. 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  5. ^ "444 suspects killed in encounters led by Rao Anwar: report". The News International. January 26, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  6. ^ "Pakistan's youth seek justice for Naqeebullah Mehsud". Al Jazeera. February 7, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  7. ^ "Pakistan police killing of a Pashtun youth fuels anger over 'encounters'". Reuters. January 27, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  8. ^ "Rao Anwar removed as SSP Malir over involvement in alleged extrajudicial killing". DAWN. January 20, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  9. ^ "US blacklists Rao Anwar for 'serious human rights abuse' through fake police encounters". Dawn. 2019-12-11. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  10. ^ "ANWAR, Rao". sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  11. ^ "UK slaps sanctions on former SSP Rao Anwar". The News International. 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  12. ^ "NAB okays investigation against Rao Anwar". Dawn. 2021-10-02. Retrieved 2022-06-29.