Uzair Baloch taken into military custody on charges of espionage: ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Army has taken Uzair Baloch, former Lyari gangster and chief of the proscribed People’s Amn Committee (PAC), into custody on charges of espionage, Inter Services Public Relations said late Tuesday.

DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor in his tweet said, “Uzair Baloch has been taken into military custody under Pakistan Army Act/Official Secret Act – 1923."

 

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 11, 2017

The military spokesman added that Uzair was taken into custody on charges of espionage (leakage of sensitive security information to foreign intelligence agencies).”

 

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 11, 2017

Baloch was arrested on January 30, 2016 by the Sindh Rangers who claimed to have apprehended him from outside Karachi. “The gang leader was arrested in a targeted operation outside Karachi as he attempted to enter the metropolis,” a press release issued by the paramilitary force had stated.

Rangers had handed over Baloch to police after questioning him for 90 days in preventive detention under Section 11-EEEE of the Pakistan Protection Act.

On April 02, The News in its report had said that the government has decided to conduct the trial of Uzair Baloch in a military court.

The report said, Baloch was allegedly in contact with foreign spy agencies, including the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and an Iranian intelligence agency.

He was also said to be in contact with Kulbhushan Jadhav - an on-duty Indian Navy officer arrested by Pakistani intelligence agencies from Balochistan in March 2016.

On Monday, Pakistan also sentenced Kulbhushan Jadhav to death for carrying out espionage and sabotage activities in Balochistan and Karachi.

Commenting on the development, Defence expert Shahzad Chaudhry said after the trial against Indian spy, it was very logical to see his agents in Pakistan being tried in military courts.

The law enforcement agencies may have nabbed Kulbhushan on Uzair's identification, he added.

Political analyst Mazhar Abbas pointed out that the LEAs must have concrete evidences against the Lyari gangster that's why the case has been forwarded to the military.

Lyari violence

Uzair took control of the PAC in August 2009 and is alleged to have been involved in a range of criminal activities including killings, extortion and terrorism. The PAC was banned on October 2011.

Uzair Baloch took over as the leader of Peoples Amn Committee in August 2009 when the notorious Abdul Rahman Baloch alias Rahman Dakait was killed in an encounter more than a year after the PPP government came to power.

Though the committee was presented as a community group by its leaders, it is blamed for its criminal activities, which included killings, extortion and drugs business by the police.

Currently, as many as 55 cases are pending against Uzair Baloch in various courts. Of these cases, one relates to the murder of Arshad Pappu and another relates to keeping weapons and explosives.

However, on April 08, 2017, Baloch and his brother Zubair Baloch were acquitted by a court of charges of attacking police during the Lyari operation in 2012.

The additional district and sessions judge (South) found no evidence of their involvement in the attack. Other accused in this case include Faisal Niazi, Badsha Khan, Naim Lahoti and Jahangir Khan.

The court directed the superintendent of the Karachi central prison to release Uzair and Zubair if they were not being tried in other cases.