ATC asks registrar when Uzair Baloch will appear for hearings

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing the criminal cases against Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch issued a letter to the registrar of the anti-terrorism courts on Thursday inquiring about when he would be produced in the court for hearings.

This is the second time that the judge concerned has written a letter to the registrar and asked him to approach the military interrogators who have custody of Baloch. The court has requested the registrar to let it know when the interrogators would present Baloch to the trial court hearing several cases against him and others. The court also directed the prison president concerned to provide details of Baloch’s arrest by the military from the central prison on April 11, 2017 and further updates in this regard.

The court pointed out that even the proceedings of a case registered in 2012 against Baloch had gotten delayed due to his non-appearance at hearings. It may be mentioned that according to sources, the custody of Baloch and four others was handed over to law enforcers on April 11, 2017 in regard to a case No 57/2016 lodged in the Nabi Bukhsh police station.

The central prison superintendent had earlier submitted a report to the ATC hearing dozens of cases against the notorious gangster and former chief of the banned People Amn Committee whose custody was taken over by the Pakistan Army as he was alleged to have been involved in anti-state activities. It was said that he was being interrogated for some cases pertaining to sharing sensitive information with foreign agencies.

Baloch is facing around 54 cases pertaining to the murder of gangster Arshad Pappu and several police officers as well as other killings and extortion. The prison authorities further stated that they had not yet received the custody of Uzair and others taken by a law enforcement agency. The custody was shifted in presence of Judicial Magistrate (South-XI) after the fulfilment of due legal requirements, the report concluded.

Uzair Baloch was arrested in January 2016. However, later he was taken by the Pakistan Army in April 2017 under the provisions of the Pakistan Army Act. He was alleged to have shared secret information with foreign intelligence agencies.