Uzair Baloch acquitted in four persons’ kidnap, murder case

An anti-terrorism court on Thursday acquitted Lyari gang war kingpin Uzair Jan Baloch and two former Rangers officials in a 14-year-old case pertaining to the kidnap and murder of four persons for lack of evidence.

Uzair Baloch, Riaz Sarwar and Sher Afsar had been charged with kidnapping and killing Mohammad Ameen, a jail official, and his three friends Ghazi Khan, Sher Afzal Khan and Sheeraz in August 2010.

The ATC-VII judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced his order after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides, observing that the prosecution failed to prove its charges against the three accused beyond any shadow of doubt.

Uzair, chief of outlawed Peoples Aman Committee, was produced in custody while co-accused Afsar and Riaz turned up on bail.

According to the prosecution, Muhammad Yousaf, the cousin of one of the victims, Ameen, had lodged an FIR for his missing cousin on August 1. The two Rangers men had allegedly contacted Yousaf and offered to get his cousin recovered against payment of Rs1 million.

A petition filed by Phullan Khatoon, mother of missing Ghazi Khan, had alleged that the four friends had been picked up by the Rangers personnel and that Sher Afsar even received a bribe of Rs100,000 from her for arranging a meeting with the kidnapped persons.

Later, Afsar and Riaz were arrested and Section 365-A (kidnapping for ransom) of the Pakistan Penal Code was added to the case. As per the supplementary charge sheet, Uzair revealed during interrogation that he along with his accomplices had killed the four men. Uzair said that he and Lala Ameen, who was a hawaldar, had exchanged heated words when he had previously been incarcerated at the central jail and therefore decided to take revenge from Ameen for the affront.

Uzair said Tajo gave him information on the night of August 1 that Ameen along with his three friends had come to Sher Afzal’s home near the Mewa Shah graveyard. He said he along with his accomplices Sarwar Baloch, Akbar Baloch, Sikandar alias Siko and eight to 10 others reached there and kidnapped the four victims.

Uzair said he himself shot to death Ameen to avenge the past incident, while his three accomplices killed the rest and buried them all in the graveyard.

As per Uzair’s statement, he said he did not know the precise location where the bodies were buried, adding that his three accomplices, who had been killed during encounters with the police, knew the burial place.

During the trial, advocate Hyder Farooq Jatoi, who represented Uzair, contended that there was no evidence to prove the murders of the four persons as their bodies had not been recovered yet and a petition seeking their recovery was also pending in the Sindh High Court. He, therefore, pleaded with the judge to acquit his client for lack of evidence.

An FIR was lodged at the New Town police station.

Uzair was booked in dozens of cases pertaining to murder, kidnapping, encounter with police during the 2012 operation in Lyari, grenade attacks on law enforcement personnel, and running an extortion racket. However, he has already been acquitted in more than 30 cases due to insufficient evidence or the benefit of doubt. In April 2020, Uzair was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a military court in an espionage case.