Uzair Baloch acquitted in two more cases

KARACHI: A sessions court on Tuesday acquitted Lyari’s suspected gangster Uzair Baloch in two more cases pertaining to arson and rioting after the prosecution could not present evidence against him.

Baloch, an alleged kingpin of the Lyari gang war and chief of the defunct Peoples Aman Committee, has been acquitted in 14 criminal cases in the past four months, while over four dozen cases against him are still pending.

The additional district & sessions judge (South), who conducted the trial at the judicial complex inside the Central Jail Karachi, exonerated the accused for want of evidence. The cases had been registered at the Kalakot and Kalri police stations against Baloch and others for allegedly committing the acts of arson and rioting in Lyari during a police crackdown on gangs in 2012.

A prosecutor pursuing some of the cases against Baloch had told the judge during an earlier hearing that the witnesses were terrified to appear in court and depose against the accused because of his notoriety.

On Monday the same court had directed a station house officer of a police station in Karachi to ensure his presence in the next hearing to record his statement in a case against the accused.

The Sindh Rangers had claimed arresting Baloch in January 2016 from the outskirts of Karachi while he was trying to enter the city through the border of Balochistan.

On the contrary, according to some unverified reports, he was arrested earlier in Dubai with the help of Interpol and later brought to Pakistan in an extremely quite affair. Soon after his arrest, the Pakistan Army had taken him into custody to try him in a military court on the charges of espionage for Iranian intelligence agencies. He was convicted and awarded a 12-year sentence.