US blacklists Rao Anwar

The United States on Tuesday blacklisted former Malir senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao 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, a newspaper website report quoted the US Treasury Department as says.

Anwar is among 18 individuals from six countries that the Trump administration has imposed economic sanctions on for suspected human rights violations. Two others have been banned from entering the US, including the former consul general of Saudi Arabia in Turkey for his alleged role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Tuesday's announcement was made in connection with International Human Rights Day.

"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, and was involved in over 190 police encounters that resulted in the deaths of over 400 people, including the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsood," the US Treasury said in a statement.

It said Anwar "helped to lead a network of police and criminal thugs that were allegedly responsible for extortion, land grabbing, narcotics, and murder".

According to the press release, the former Malir SSP has been designated "for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse".

The sanctions freeze the US assets of the 18 designated individuals and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.

"The United States will not tolerate torture, kidnapping, sexual violence, murder or brutality against innocent civilians," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.