Claim: The Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Karachi has charged Rao Anwar with the murder of Naqeeullah Mehsud.
Fact: Rao Anwar was not charged; instead, he was acquitted by the ATC in Karachi.
On 23 January 2023, Dawn.com shared a misleading tweet claiming that the infamous Malir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar has been charged by the Anti-Terrorism court in Karachi for the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud.
Naqeebullah Mehsud was an aspiring model from South Waziristan, residing in Karachi who was brutally killed along with three others dubbed as “militants linked to the Islamic State and the Taliban” in an encounter staged by Rao Anwar and two dozen of his subordinates on 13 January 2018. This became the rallying call for the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement led by Manzoor Pashteen, which focuses on the issue of missing persons and the extrajudicial killings and abductions carried by law enforcement officers based on ethnic prejudice.
Soch Fact Check decided to verify this claim because of its political significance.
Fact or Fiction?
This archived version of the Dawn.com article shows that the 5th paragraph of the article states, “Anwar, along with his around two dozen subordinates, has been charged with the killing of Naqeeb and three others after dubbing them militants linked to the “Islamic State and Taliban” in a fake encounter on Jan 13, 2018.”
This excerpt from the article was used to formulate the caption for this tweet by Dawn.com, which several social media users then shared as the official announcement of the verdict.
The article itself explains the details of the investigation and the pending judgment of the verdict of acquittal.
Virality
The misleading tweet by Dawn.com was viewed 25,900 times and received 201 interactions and the tweet continues to remain on Twitter.
Conclusion: Rao Anwar was acquitted and not charged with the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud.