Former SSP Malir Rao Anwar. Photo: FileFormer senior superintendent of police Rao Anwar, who was posted in Malir before his removal from the force over criminal investigations into alleged extra-judicial killings, on Wednesday said that he should be gunned down in a street-center if found involved in league with criminals.In a video message shared on the social networking website Twitter by multiple users, Anwar appeared clad in a traditional Pakistani suit and looked relaxed while recording his strong protest at a recent decision of the United States government to blacklist him over human rights issues."A superpower like the US has accused me and my country of a wrong-doing. I was an officer of the police force, and we fight terrorists. The 400-500 terrorists have never complained that I killed someone for greed or in a fake encounter," Anwar can be heard saying in the video. He added that even after his removal from the force for over two years, not one complaint had been registered against him. Anwar further claimed that the US would have to apologize if it could not prove the allegations made against him about extra-judicial killings. In his video statement, Anwar appeared oblivious to the fact that he had been named in a murder case of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a man from Waziristan who was extra-judicially gunned down by a police unit led by Anwar in 2018. A criminal investigation into the murder is still ongoing. "Even if one complainant comes forward with the allegation that I was in league with criminals and crooks, then I am prepared to face the consequences not only in the US, but here in Pakistan. I should be gunned down in a street-center if I am found in contact with criminals," he said.Anwar said that he would be hiring a lawyer to pursue his case in the US, and would also be writing to the US embassy in this regard. The former SSP termed the sanctions againt him a conspiracy against Pakistan, and an attempt to divert attention away from plight of people of Kashmir. Why did the US blacklist Rao Anwar?The US government had on Tuesday blacklisted Anwar for engaging in "serious human rights abuse" by carrying out alleged fake police 'encounters' in which scores of individuals, including Waziristan native Naqeebullah Mehsud, were killed and several others injured."During his tenure as the Senior Superintendent of Police in District Malir, Pakistan, Rao Anwar Khan (Anwar) was reportedly responsible for staging numerous fake police encounters in which individuals were killed by police," the US Treasury said in a statement"He was involved in over 190 police encounters that resulted in the deaths of over 400 people, including the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsood. Anwar helped to lead a network of police and criminal thugs that were allegedly responsible for murder," the statement added.
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