ATC wants Uzair Baloch produced on next hearing of Rangers personnel murder case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday ordered the jail authorities to produce Lyari gangsters Uzair Baloch and Sher Muhammad Sheikh on the next hearing for indictment in a case pertaining to kidnapping and intelligence personnel kidnapping cum murder case.

The ATC-XVI judge directed the authorities to ensure the presence of both the accused as the case had already seen many delays. Meanwhile, the lawyer for Sheikh moved an application in the court to obtain copies of prosecution documents.

Muneer Ahmed Bhutto and Aijaz Ahmed Baloch, both belonging to the intelligence wing of the Sindh Rangers, had been kidnapped in Lyari and later their tortured bodies were found in the Mewa Shah Graveyard in March, 2013.

According to the prosecution, the personnel were abducted by Sheikh who had informed Uzair that they were spying on him. Uzair, after confirming the lead, asked the rival gangster to kill them so that he could escape the blame.

Uzair, the chief of the defunct Peoples Amn Committee, faces around five dozen cases of serious felonies, including murder, attempts to murder, kidnapping, extortion and terrorism in special courts. In April, he was sentenced by a military court to 12 years in prison on the charges of spying for the Iranian intelligence agencies.

On a previous hearing, Uzair told the ATC that he had been suffering political victimisation for his affiliation with the Pakistan Peoples (PPP). “I am being persecuted as I belong to the PPP. If today I give in to the pressure and join the PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf], the charges against me will be dropped,” he said.